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Eve Andree Laramee "Sugar Mud" |
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Eve Andr�e Laram�e explores the remarkable morphology of the Hudson river as shaped by human activity and cultural interpretation. In this installation, the gallery at Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, is suffused in yellow light and overtaken by a drifted mound of golden colored sugar, referring to the accumulated sediment on the river�s edge, and to the idealized golden radiant light characteristic of the Hudson River School paintings. In her initial research, Laram�e looked at the river and its watershed �upside-down and sideways� and was drawn to benthic maps of the river bottom. The maps are created by scientists who profile the river floor with multi-beam acoustics, resulting in vibrantly colored maps that contain layers of information about the river floor. She also focuses on the sugar refinery site on the Yonkers shoreline which has been dumping sugar sludge into the river for 150 years. A photograph of the site taken this summer is overlaid with commentary describing the contents of the dredged material. Laram�e�s installation adds a twenty-first century viewpoint by including benthic maps of the underwater dredge channels. This activity is far from benign as the material removed through dredging is shifted from the riverbed to the ocean floor, along with the toxic substances it contains.
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Crystalized yellow sugar, wood, foam 22' x 16.5' x 6' |
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Detail: Crystalized yellow sugar |
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Benthic Map of dredge channel in the Hudson River created by removal of 80,000 tons of "Sugar Mud" sediment. |
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On November 14, 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged 80,000 tons of "Sugar Mud" from the Hudson River in Yonkers and dumped it at the Historic Area Remediation Site off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Elevated levels of contaminants, including PCBs and dioxins were present in the sediment. |
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