S.S. El Faro

As part of our inaugural show, Naomi B. Cook's research into oil spills, including the lack of data and representation, has taken form as a consequential work regarding the fate of the S.S. El Faro. A deep dive into the circumstances that resulted in the tragic loss of a large shipping container in the eye of a perfect storm. A frame-by-frame hand-animated recounting of the events, coupled with the black-box audio recording of the final minutes of the ship and crew brings a focused attention to the collateral damage implicit in our supply chain. Indeed the oil spilled from the S.S. El Faro is only a tiny piece of the tragedy which consumed several lives. The event is memorialized through this epic and monumental work, tragic and beautiful.