Photographer Matthew Brandt traveled to Flint , Michigan , from Los Angeles back in 2016 . The 35 - yr - sure-enough was there to take photos of the city for his own interest — and integrate Flint ’s lead - contaminated water into his images , quite literally . He used that water to develop his film .
Now , more than two years afterwards , his work is getting a limelight at the Detroit Institute of Arts“Out of Crate ” exhibit . Brandt ’s “ nosepiece Over Flint ” series is made up of 24 photographs that render bridge going over the Flint River , which sparked the metropolis ’s lead contamination crisis when officials decided to use it as a drinking water source beginning in 2014 .
Brandt come back driving around the metropolis for a few days , taste to figure out what to appropriate . The bridge finally spoke to him . Once he secured the images he needed , he need the film to his hotel way bathroom and sustain to make using a DIY method — water from the spigot , crushed vitamin atomic number 6 pills , blanching agent , and some red wine — to develop it .
“ I was n’t approaching it from this scientific level , ” Brandt say . “ It was sort of using what ’s there and then making pictures with it . It was just like , ‘ Flint pee ’s here . I ’m a use it and work out with it ! ’ ”
The photos — which are somewhere between black - and - blank and burnt sienna tone — have a haunting feeling . They ’re messy , creating the complete metaphor for the mussy spot the metropolis had fix itself into .
The L.A.-based photographer says this projection was “ a picayune more heavy ” than he usually go , but the Flint water crisis was right smart too pressing for him to ignore . He ’s glad the work endure on in the state of Michigan where those most - touch on can get at it . “ I do n’t stress to levy anything but just lease somebody see something , ” he say .
For those outside the city of Flint , the image offer a reminder thatthewatercrisiscontinuesmorethanfouryearslater .
The exhibit will be on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit until September 23 .
Flint Water Crisis
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