Oil on Canvas
36” x 48” – May 2019
Hydroelectric dams impact local ecosystems regardless of their size or geographic location, but lowland tropical ecosystems can suffer the most wide-ranging negative impacts from large hydropower constructions. It is in these rich tropical forests and floodplains that so much of the world’s biodiversity and native populations reside, and also where carbon is stored in large quantities in the soil and vegetation, which helps buffer the world against rapid climate change. In mighty river basins like the Amazon in South America, the Congo in Africa and the Mekong in Southeast Asia, current and planned construction of large dams in their tropical ecosystems are due to cause extensive damage to aquatic and terrestrial species, local communities and global and regional climate patterns.
This painting depicts a flooded and fragmented Amazonian ecosystem, caused by a hydroelectric dam in the background. The golden catfish and tucuxi river dolphin represent species whose long migratory ranges have been blocked. Decaying organic matter and accumulating sediment are producing bubbles of methane. An indigenous hut represents displaced indigenous communities, and a dead monkey communicates the impact that these constructions have on terrestrial biodiversity.
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