12:45pm | The Aquarium of the Pacific will host an art exhibit beginning in mid October featuring aerial photos that capture the aftermath of the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Photographer Daniel Beltrá shot the photos during May and June 2010 on assignment for Greenpeace off the coast of Louisiana. An exhibit featuring Beltrá’s work, SPILL: Images from the Gulf, will be on display at the Aquarium in Long Beach from October 13, 2011, through January 15, 2012.
Over the course of three months, approximately 4.9 million barrels of crude oil (205.8 million gallons) were released into the gulf waters. The Deepwater Horizon wellhead was eventually capped on July 15, 2010. Beltrá’s aerial images depict the accident site, relief well drilling platforms, controlled burns, boats and skimmer ships that were brought in to monitor and assist in the containment efforts, planes dropping dispersant, and brown pelicans covered in oil. The captions that accompany the images tell the story of the spill and its aftermath as well as some of the impacts that have been observed on animals, plants, and economies. Beltrá’s photographs remind viewers of the consequences of the spill and the need to find sustainable solutions to the problems associated with the use of fossil fuels.
Yesterday evening, Beltrá spoke at a joint public lecture at the Aquarium with Dr. Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University. “These photographs explore the tenseness of the situation in the Gulf of Mexico as the oil seeps into an already challenged and complex ocean ecosystem. Though tragic, it is a fitting example of the vast scale of transformation our world is under from man-made stresses,” Beltrá said. “I hope to reawaken people to their connection to this world by challenging them to contemplate their relationship with nature, and how their individual actions will contribute to the changing needs of our planet.”
SPILL premiered at the 212 Gallery in Aspen, Colorado, during the 2010 Environment Forum held in July at the Aspen Institute, and will continue to travel nationally and internationally through 2012. Images from the SPILL exhibit have been featured in The New Yorker, TIME Magazine’s Year in Review, Outdoor Photography, and Orion.
Beltrá was born in Madrid, Spain, and is currently based in Seattle. Previous assignments have taken him to the Brazilian Amazon, the Arctic, and the Patagonian ice fields. Beltrá’s photography covering the Gulf spill earned him an Award of Excellence from the Pictures of the Year International contest, the Special Prize for DAYS JAPAN International Photojournalism Award, and he was named one of the forty most influential nature photographers in 2010 by Outdoor Photography magazine. He is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.
The Aquarium of the Pacific, a nonprofit institution, celebrates our planet’s largest and most diverse body of water: the Pacific Ocean. Home to more than 11,000 animals, the Aquarium explores the waters of Southern California and Baja and the Northern and Tropical Pacific. The Aquarium features hands-on discovery labs staffed by knowledgeable volunteers; its interactive Shark Lagoon; the new Ocean Science Center; and the new Arctic & Antarctic: Our Polar Regions in Peril gallery. A world of discovery awaits people of all ages, backgrounds, and interests. The Aquarium is open daily from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (except Dec. 25 and during the Grand Prix in April).