The Art of Boom

After the tragic Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, I found myself working for a client involved in the response efforts to prevent damage to the Gulf and its shoreline. One of first lines of defense is containment boom, which is deployed in shallow water near the shore, or which is used to create perimeter barriers around sensitive areas such as marshes and small islands.

From above, I noticed abstractions in color, line, shape, and patterns of the boom. Some of the sweeping curves and grand shapes reminded me of the work of the artist Christo, whose epic projects traversed the landscape with fabric walls in Running Fence and Valley Curtain.

These photos represent an irony in that they depict the graceful shapes and colors of boom segments, which are in place only to stop a toxic and ugly onslaught of escaping crude oil.