Stacy Kranitz photographs, 2017

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Summary

Creator:
Kranitz, Stacy, 1976-, photographer
Abstract:
Stacy Kranitz is a documentary photographer and author based in Tennessee. Collection consists of 15 color inkjet prints and a 100-page handmade illustrated book fom a project titled Fulcrum of Malice, which documents the connections between conditions in African American neighborhoods and the siting and management of hazardous industries and waste sites around Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The photographs show African American families at home and in their neighborhoods, people in church and at meetings about the hazardous waste sites, biodegraded landscapes, and the industrial sites themselves. The book also includes text, maps, charts that narrate the community histories, government policies which led to the current situation, and the decades-long struggle for environmental and health justice for the inhabitants. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
Extent:
.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
English
Research Center:
Archive of Documentary Arts
Collection ID:
RL.12034

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of a selection of 15 color inkjet prints and a 100-page handmade illustrated book from a photojournalistic project by Stacy Kranitz titled "Fulcrum of Malice." The book contains the complete series of images and an investigative narrative detailing the histories of the 25 polluting facilities surrounding the community of Alsen. Through text, maps, charts, and the photographs, the project documents the connections between environmental and health conditions in African American neighborhoods and the siting and management of hazardous industries and waste sites in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The color inkjet prints measure 11x14 inches. Kranitz's project received the Archive of Documentary Arts Award at Duke University in 2022.

From the artist's statement:

"Fulcrum of Malice is the story of one community's fight against the 25 polluting facilities that surround them. For more than fifty years, Alsen, LA has been caught in an environmental discrimination struggle that disproportionately burdens it with environmental hazards unparalleled in nearby white communities. Within a four-mile radius there are 11 petrochemical plants, 3 Superfund sites, 5 hazardous waste pits, 2 city garbage dumps, and 3 privately owned waste facilities surrounding them. Residents first began complaining of breathing problems, spontaneous nose bleeds, and headaches in the late 1970's. High cancer rates, asthma, birth defects, stillbirths, and miscarriages continue to plague the community to this day..."

"This work is a testament to what has happened. Even if the government and industry continue to refuse to address this problem, the community itself deserve a visual record of the damage that details those responsible for it. This work is for them. And this work is for the rest of us because it is time, we all take responsibility and collectively acknowledge our complicit role in this pattern of systemic racism."

Biographical / historical:

Stacy Kranitz (1976- ) is a documentary photographer, author, and photojournalist born in Kentucky and based in Tennessee. Her work has been exhibited and written about widely and is in the permanent collections at the Harvard Art Museums and the Museum of Fine Art, Houston. Her project on environmental pollution and systemic racism in Louisiana, Fulcrum of Malice, received the Archive of Documentary Arts Award at Duke University in 2022.

Historical note, taken from the artist's statement:

"Many of the historic African American neighborhoods along the 140-mile Cancer Alley petrochemical corridor were developed after the Civil War when the government established small land grants for former slaves working on sugar cane plantations along the Mississippi River." "Alsen was established in 1872 as a small agrarian community on the outskirts of Baton Rouge. The environmental threats first began in the early 1900s when Louisiana politicians enticed large petroleum companies to the region with lenient environmental policies. In the 1950s, the government voted to rezone the farmland around Alsen from agriculture to industry. The rezoning faced little opposition since there were very few registered voters in Alsen at the time and no elected officials of color in the parish. The petrochemical industry became the backbone of the state's economy and government officials were eager to bring in more companies. They did this by relaxing industrial zoning regulations near low-income Black communities along the Mississippi river. This method has been used to justify and grow petrochemical corridors around the world."

Acquisition information:
The Stacy Kranitz photographs were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase from the artist in 2022.
Processing information:

Processed and described by Paula Jeannet, August 2022.

Accession(s) represented in this collection guide: 2022-0058.

Arrangement:

Photographs are arranged in order as originally received from the donor.

Physical facet:
15 photographs; one handmade book
Dimensions:
Prints: 11 x 14 inches
Rules or conventions:
Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Graphics)

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. Images may only be used for educational, non-commercial purposes; any other use requires the photographer's permission. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Stacy Kranitz photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m19x58