• Cody Hooks, “Unhangeable Art at Paseo Hinges on Science,” The Taos News, October 1, 2015 LINK
• Jason Pfiefer, KNCE 93.5 Radio Interview, Taos New Mexico, aired on September 23, 2015. http://truetaosradio.com/
• Kelly Tredwin, “Nuclear Energy Lights Up The Paseo,” LiveTaos.com Interview, September 23, 2015, LINK
• Susan Thom Loubet, KUNM Radio Interview, “Women’s Focus,” Albuquerque New Mexico, aired on September 19th, 2015
• Kristen Currie, “516 Arts Host Downtown Block Party,” KRQE News 13, Live Television Interview, Albuquerque, New Mexico, aired on September 8, 2015, LINK
• Grant County Beat, “The Paseo Returns with Sound and Light to Taos Historic District, Sept. 25 & 26,” July 14th, 2015. LINK

8:00am MT Abbey will have a live interview about the project, Nuclear Illuminations, on 93.5 in Taos or streaming online at http://truetaosradio.com.

516 ARTS’ Teresa Buscemi and HABITAT Block Party artist Abbey Hepner interview on KRQE news live:

CENTER exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico will feature work from the series Transuranic.

June 1 — September 30th, 2015 (extended)
Opening on June 4, 5-7pm

Marion Center for Photographic Arts at the Santa Fe University of Art & Design

Thanks to Amy Wolf for featuring this with images from my series Transuranic, on Photo District News. LINK

Work from Temporary Container and an interview with Alyssa Coppelman, the photo editor of Feature Shoot, was published. READ IT HERE

Click on the images for their link.

Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade When we first moved to Japan, I was reading a lot of news regarding the French war in Mali. France’s deep ties to Mali are due to its ownership of uranium mines there. Of course the resource war has extended into Niger as well. This is a fascinating read for those who want a good background in regards to the politics and violence behind the uranium trade.

Radiance of France I read this book in France while making the film Scars On The Landscape. The book is interesting for those who like French history or want to understand how nuclear energy plays a very important part in typical French politics. Reading this book in conjunction with the above book will give more insight into current international conflicts surrounding uranium.

The Rise of Nuclear Fear I reviewed this book on this blog back in November, 2012 but I continue to reference it a lot in my research. Despite some issues I have with what the author intentionally leaves out, read the book for the interesting references to pop-culture and be aware of Mr. Weart’s agenda.

Uranium, War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped The World This continues to be a favorite book of mine. I purchased it as an mp3 so I could listening to it while driving through New Mexico. Fascinating, well researched and entertaining.

Yellow Dirt I am almost finished with this book. I am not a huge fan of the narrator for the audio book and it is dramatically slower than the book Uranium (above) but the information regarding Native American history and uranium mining is really interesting.

Strong In The Rain, Surviving Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster I read this book the first month I got to Japan. It consists of personal stories, that make it more entertaining, and leads into some visions for the future. Read it to connect to the personal, emotional aspects of the disaster and not scientific or factual information. I found myself tearing up particularly in the sections regarding assistance that the U.S. Navy provided after the tsunami. While I was living in Japan, I consistently found Japanese people to be incredibly respectful and gracious. They did a lot to thank volunteers and this book touches on that.

Atomic States of America Worth watching for some potentially true theories and to support the reason why many individuals are very concerned with the health effects of nuclear energy. Like many of these documentaries, I found the film to be problematic in the way it plays into emotion and sidesteps scientific facts.

Countdown To Zero For those interested in nuclear weapons

Trinity and Beyond For history geeks and those who like ridiculously cheesy nuclear propaganda.

Atomic Accidents I recently purchased this as an audio book for the drive to the Nevada Test site. I have not read it yet though.

Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West another historical book for those interested in learning more about uranium and mining.

Full Body Burden I haven’t read this book yet but it is on my list before going to Denver, CO in July. The many reported radiation leaks and problems in the Rocky Mountain Flats site has made it a major site of remediation. Interestingly enough, a huge area has been designated as a “Wildlife Preserve.” Some theories point towards that designation as a way for officials to get out of completing a full remediation on the damaged landscape.

Dark Circle Documentary on the link between the reemergence of nuclear power and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Radioactivists This is a documentary I saw in Berlin by two Germans who filmed all the protests happening in Japan regarding nuclear energy. News reports after Fukushima continually reported that despite the disaster, the Japanese still agreed with nuclear energy and that there was no uprising from citizens. One of the protests that happened while I was in Japan consisted of over 70,000 protestors. News is false. LINK HERE

Savage Dreams Nuclear tests and history of the American West.

Uranium Is It A Country? This is a documentary about Uranium mining in Australia. I really enjoyed the film. It exposes some politics happening in Australia, a country that exports tons of uranium to other countries but does not use nuclear energy itself. Watch the entire documentary online HERE

That’s it for now, I’ll update with more in the future.

I have been working on the development of a very large project that will take place primarily in Waynesboro, Georgia where the first U.S. nuclear plant in 30 years is being constructed. This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the very gracious Puffin Foundation, Ltd. That project will coincide with work at Savannah River Site, my final destination for a body of work I have been doing this summer documenting the locations where the highest amount of radioactive waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant comes from.

As of this week I have documented the following:
WIPP in Carlsbad, NM
Urenco in Eunice, NM (The only U.S. Uranium Enrichment Facility)
Andrews County Disposal Site in Andrews, TX (Only facility permitted for all three types of low-level radioactive waste and the site now storing radioactive waste while WIPP is closed due to the recent leak.)
Los Alamos National Lab

June:
Hanford Site
Idaho National Laboratory

July:
Nevada Test Site
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Rocky Flats Environmental Site

In conjunction with the future project in Waynesboro, GA:
Vogtle Nuclear Plant
Savannah River Site

This body of work consists of hours of film footage tracing the interstate highway between these locations as well as a series of final images of each location, which I will make into Uranotypes (an archaic photo process that uses uranium) in a lab in NYC the first week of August.

I have ventured off the path to explore the many historical connections that the nuclear power industry has with the nuclear weapons industry. This is the joy of going to graduate school in a place with so much history! I recently visited Project Gnome in Loving, NM and Yeso Elementary School and Fallout Shelter in Artesia, NM.

For the future:
Mark 17 bomb accident site, Abq, NM
L Bar Disposal Cell, Grants, NM
Homestake Uranium Mill tailings pile, Grants, NM
Quivera Uranium Mill and disposal cell, Grants, NM
Church Rock tailings spill, Gallup, NM (second only to Chernobyl in the amount of radiation released?)
Crescent Junction Disposal Cell near Moab, UT (came from Atlas that poisoned water)
Green River Uranium Disposal UT
Gasbuggy test site, Dulce, NM

This is modern life.
….this is modern life?

Working on images I shot last month in Maui. I hiked Mt. Haleakalā, a large volcano (over 10,000 ft. in elevation) where many people go to scatter cremated ashes.