Years of Life lost (we are within the waste)

In this work, three vintage Kennecott Copper Corporation billboard ads show narratives of economic prosperity and job creation that circulated widely during the dawn of industrialization. The billboards sit on top of slag waste piles and have embedded animations that illustrate a starkly different reality. Elements of the poster slowly begin to move in the animation to illustrate the labor strikes, abandoned houses, and environmental degradation in mining towns today. The visual differences exemplify the disconnect between what was promised to these communities and the material living conditions the towns were actually left with.