Artist Statement

As advocates of the zero waste movement, Marshall Sustainability Club was awarded a grant of one thousand dollars from GAIA - Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. These funds allowed the club to collaborate on the mural before you that is a statement about how our home, West Virginia, is impacted by the fracked gas and petrochemical industry that not only harms our states’ beautiful wildlife and scenery but also our communities. As is depicted by the crowd gathered at the state capital, this piece calls for justice for our people and communities that have been poisoned and left behind for industry profit. For decades extraction industries have plundered our land and left our people sick and impoverished in the name of economic prosperity. But West Virginians have not seen that prosperity take shape in our communities, as much of that money lines the pockets of industry executives residing in other states. Despite the massive threats from this industry, there is still much to love about this state and we wanted to show the things that we all love and appreciate about West Virginia. That is why we chose to depict two very opposing scenes, the left side of the mural encompasses the good while the right side represents the bad. The piece is composed of a large sun shining over the mountains, representing hope for the future and the unity within our communities. Below it rests a honeycomb, inside of which are some of the things we value in West Virginia such as the wildlife- represented by the state animal, insect, and flower, the black bear, monarch butterfly, and rhododendron, the shop local movement and all our wonderful small businesses, a growing renewable energy sector represented by wind turbines, sustainable agriculture and the initiatives that provide resources for low income communities to grow their own food. Out of the sun flows a river and above it is the New River Gorge Bridge. In the river, there is a kayak and a raft to represent the diversity of recreational activities and tourism, however, as one may see, these fun activities are taking place in the same rivers that are being filled with toxic pollution from chemical factories and coal facilities. Not only do people recreate in these waters but they drink, bathe and cook with this water everyday. On the bridge is a tanker truck that not only produces harmful emissions but it is also transporting dangerous chemicals to and from the factories and storage facilities. The pipeline snakes over the mountains carrying fracked gas, which is largely used to make plastics and household chemicals. This toxic substance finds its way into our bodies of water both before and after production represented by the green plastic flowing out of the pipeline, down river along with the waste produced from the facilities. One of such facilities is depicted on the far right which hosts a smoke stack emitting pollution into the atmosphere. Dollar signs are embedded in the emissions flowing off canvas to represent how the money generated from these operations largely goes out of state and away from the communities they claim to be making prosperous. This piece seeks to spark a vision of what we can achieve and be in this state, but we can not move forward when we still cling to the past. We must remove ourselves from the grips of polluting industries that have been economically relied on for over a century and will never be our saviors. We, as West Virginia youth, demand a better future where we do not feel like we have to leave our homes to create a meaningful life or do not fear for our and our families safety and health. We are capable of manifesting our dreams right here at home with our family and community at our sides.