Emily Van Engel

(Painting and Drawing 2012)

First Class Cabin

First Class Cabin is made with air pollution sediment. The black color is air pollution that I collected from window ledges and highway underpasses, and the red/brown is pollution that I heated prior to painting with it. I chose to paint the business class cabin of an airplane in pollution because I wanted to show something that we see as so luxurious from another perspective. We've gotten so used to a fossil-fuel based economy, yet it is so destructive. I feel like living through a pandemic has shown me that the way we live and do business can change quickly. However, what changes is still based on what is politically viable. We know that our systems and structures need to change so they serve all people and the environment, not just the elite. Please join me in asking "what would be better?"

Industrial Fallout

I painted a highway junction as seen from the CCA bus in Oakland in air pollution sediment. I wanted to capture this moment in air pollution to recognize how normal carbon-intensive travel has become, how it's both ordinary and extraordinary, destructive... and perhaps fleeting. If we are able to transform our economy in a green or sustainable way, many things will change, including much of transit as we know it. The idea of losing the ability to travel to places quickly feels like a big loss of freedom, when you consider our interconnected highway system and the ease with which many can hop on a plane and travel around the world today. But I think there also would be a lot to gain in a de-globalized, re-localized post-carbon world. Our communities would only get more vibrant as we invest more time and resources locally. What if we spent less time in transit and more time outside, working and communing with friends, the natural world, and our creativity? What would it look like if we transitioned to becoming a human-powered society where we each truly had ownership of our own labor?

Home of the Water Protectors

Although the Taos Pueblo is nestled among the mountains and situated far from industrialized cities, painting it in air pollution sediment mirrors the threats to a culture that has thrived off of the right relationship with the land and environment for many years. Even within the environmental movement, native voices and ways of being are often overtaken by dominant white culture. Racism and climate change have never been more clearly connected to me than in this moment, and I'm hopeful that seeing these connections can usher in much-needed change.

@emilyvanengel

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