Marcellus Shale Documentary Project Comes to YSU
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown State University Department of Art is presenting a series of events called the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project: MSDP, which includes a photography exhibit, series of lectures and film screening throughout the month of March.
The photography exhibit, on display in the Bliss Hall Gallery through April 4, features the work of Noah Addis, Nina Berman, Brian Cohen, Scott Goldsmith, Lynn Johnson, and Martha Rial, the six photographers of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project.
For the better part of a year, the photographers traveled across Pennsylvania, meeting people, listening to and recording their stories. "They have reached out to farmers, homeowners, and tenants; medical practitioners, engineers, and legal professionals; casual protesters and full-blown activists; to people who feel they have benefited from gas drilling, and to those who feel they have been victimized; to people whose lives have been forever changed, for better and for worse," states the art department's announcement.
"Each member of the team has brought a different aesthetic, and has chosen a different angle from which to view the subject. They have identified locations that range from intensively drilled to the margins of the gas fields. Together, they offer a compelling narrative that represents an honest appraisal of how the arrival of Marcellus Shale drilling has affected communities."
The documentary Triple Divide, will be screened Friday, March 28 at 4 p.m. at the McDonough Museum of Art.The 90-minute documentary is a project by PublicHerald.org, a Pennsylvania nonprofit organization.
Related events supporting the project include:
- Tuesday, March 25, Lecture: The Science of Shale Gas: Geology, Seismology and Environmental Impacts, Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer, professor of geology, Youngstown State University, 7 p.m., Moser Hall Room 2000.
- Wednesday, March 26, Lecture: The Science of Shale Gas: The latest evidence on leaky wells, methane emissions, and implications for policy, Dr. Anthony R. Ingraffea, Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering, Cornell University, 7 p.m., Moser Hall Room 2000.
- Thursday, March 27, Gallery Talk / Gallery Reception: Brian Cohen, photographer and project director of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, 5 p.m., Bliss Hall Room 2300.
- Friday, March 28, Film screening of Triple Divide, the documentary, directed by Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman, 4 p.m., McDonough Museum Lecture Hall. The opening reception of the YSU Student Art Exhibition will immediately follow at 6:00 p.m.
Writing about the project, The New York Times stated, “Amid the noise on either side of the debate over drilling, members of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project have been quietly canvassing the Pennsylvania countryside to document the people and places caught up in the state’s gas boom. Brian Cohen, the project’s director, said he liked to think of the group as something like a modern-day Farm Security Administration.
“Ultimately, their aim is to create a visual record of the “great shale rush,” and chronicle the changes that Americans can expect to see as we drill our way into the future. Despite the challenges, photographs taken by the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project make up an absorbing account of the drilling frenzy in America. “
The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project was funded in part by The Sprout Fund, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Josh Whetzel, Nancy Bernstein, and Cathy Raphael.
The events are free and open to the public. More information is available by calling 330 941 3627.
SOURCE: YSU Art Department.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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