This week's template image for LMAC Collage Contest #205 was not one of @shaka's more idyllic scenes.
Many of the artists in the LMAC community picked up on the theme of pollution and corruption. If you look at the collages posted this week you'll see some grim (and some whimsical) interpretations of the template. Obviously, I didn't do whimsy.
I was impressed by how polluted the water around that ship must be. It wasn't just what seemed to be a rusting hulk of a ship that was apparently polluting the water. It was also the industry evident in the picture, industry that surely was adding more contaminants to the water.
Water. We need it to live. Many of us take it for granted. We turn on the tap and there it is. And yet, increasingly, many of us are buying water in bottles because we don't trust the tap.
Check out the YouTube video of an industrial water plume in the U.S.
Toxic Groundwater Plume in Bethpage, New York
Northrop Grumman Corporation operated a plant in the Bethpage community for years. The plant is now closed, but the legacy of its presence remains. The plume will affect the surrounding community for years to come.
In my town, we get notices about the pollutants that have been found in the most recent testing of our community well water. Reading through the report can give one a headache.
There are 'allowable' levels of almost all nasty elements. Those allowable elements (established by governing local and federal authorities) are based on research that shows "levels known to cause health effects in animal studies." The report states that "...consuming water with (the pollutant)at the level(s) detected does not pose a significant health risk."
So, the water in my tap is officially 'safe'. I'm one of the lucky ones. According to a World Bank report (published March, 2023), only 74% of the global population (human) has access to clean drinking water. That leaves about 2 billion people up the proverbial (in this case polluted) creek.
Pit Latrine and Well, Lusaka Peri-Urban Area, Gambia
Photo by Kennedy Mayumbelo. Attribution SuSanASecretariat of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance. Used under CC 2.0 license.
Lest one point to Gambia, or other so-called third-world communities for sources of such ground pollution, I recall one of the homes I moved into as a child.
If the camera had panned over to the right, it might have captured the image of a large trash heap. When we moved into the house (which my grandfather bought) there was a trash heap down the slope and nearby the well that supplied our drinking water.
We were told not to drink the well water before boiling it. I'm sure the boiling took care of pathogens, but what of the other pollutants that seeped into the ground and likely leached into the well water? The trash pile had been there for generations.
Eventually, my grandfather had a well dug in the front yard and we could drink our tap water.
In making the collage I first of all tip my hat to the template. What an image. Then I thank the LIL Gallery, which provided several images I used. I thank @muelli and @yaziris.
- Graffiti trailer
@muelli
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/2526
Two images from the gallery were my contribution:
Children playing
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/10789Rabbit
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/13083
Then, from Pixabay I borrowed trash:
The concept for the collage was simple. Not only would I show trash, but I would show how it affected the environment. Children play in it, or near it. Vegetables grown near it surely absorb pollutants, and the rabbit eating the vegetables will likely spread the pollutants in the environment: a predator will consume the pollutants when it consumes the rabbit, or the rabbit's excrement may leave traces of the pollution on the ground.
Process
This was not smooth. My first concept was terrible. Then I settled on this yard full of junk, from Pixabay as the basis for my collage:
I replaced some of the 'junk' in that picture with elements from the template:
I added @muelli's trailer
Added the foam in the water, the children and ran the picture through a Lunapic filter
Added the tomatoes and the rabbit
Then I added more junk and refined the color in the boy's (standing) pants.
LIL is not only a valuable image resource for the Hive community, but is also a way for community members to participate in LMAC. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from it. Learn about the procedure here.
Every week we offer prizes to fifteen finalists in the contest, but it's not only the prizes people create for. I, for example, don't compete but spend hours giving vent to my imagination. Others in the community have developed the habit of 'speaking' through collage.
This week's contest has concluded. You can vote for your favorites at the LMAC poll here.
As @shaka has said many times, everyone is an artist. I may not be an artist in the technical sense, but LMAC allows me to nurture my own unique artistic voice.
Thank you for reading. Peace and health to all.
In Venezuela you can't trust either the tap or the bottles. Thirty years ago, there used to be a Pasteur home filter in most houses, we still have ours at home, but we know for a fact that most people haven't been able to buy one at least in the last decade. Anyway, I don't know if our water is Good, but it doesn't look Bad or Ugly unless you use a microscope 🙈
Microplastic pollution and all kinds of pollution are everywhere in the world, but some of us are lucky to have a piece of cleaner nature around us. I owe you some pics; I need to find the best ones, but here you can see Queen Gunivere "Winnie". She comes to the kitchen when she feels a queen should eat something better than hug plums and rose apples. She comes for mangoes, bananas, lettuce, and tomatoes (her favorites).
This is Paco, our 20 year old parrot. I'll tell you his story someday. He isn't afraid to be free if we are nearby. It doesn't fly very high because--I guess--someone broke its left wing so they could sell it as a pet, which is a practice as horrible as it is common here. Anyway, he's safe here in the house. And although I feed him and take care of him, I'm not his favorite person; sometimes we must put him in his cage because he attacks the cats. His love is my husband, haha. We get by.
And this is the young iguana I told you about. He's at my father's; he's shy and we rarely see him now, but you can hear him when he moves around high up in the mango tree or when he's going to the house next door. I say he, but who knows 😄
Thank you for the pictures!!! I love Winnie, and Paco, and the shy salamander. What a wonderful collection of 'pets' you have. The pictures are magnificent.
I agree with you about bottled water. We don't feel confident drinking it at all, but what are we to do? We live with what we have and try to listen to voices of reason when the issue of pollution and contamination arises.
You have made me smile this morning. Thank you very, very much, @marlyncabrera.
Is Roberto a salamander? Haha. I didn't know! The one we see these days is definitely an iguana, so perhaps he's not Roberto, haha.
We have three tortoises: Queen Guinivere, Sir Lancelot, and Spatu (which is a cruel nickname in Spanish 😅 like slang for flattened, but we named her like that out of love). She's handicapped; she drags her hind legs, so I look for her every day to see if she's stuck in a root in the backyard (she seldom is).
Keep smiling, friend. Have a lovely day!
Salamander, iguana. I have used the terms interchangeably, which is not correct. Iguana works fine for me. I love your backyard pets. Life is richer with these friends around :)
Then I think Roberto the iguana is still around 🤭 If he honors us with his presence, I might take his photo 👌🏻
This is beautiful work.
Looks like an antic real photo of a trash heap swamp...
Tough luck about pollution and humans though.
In Nigeria, although we are majorly free from such, there are still major water pollution issues in some rural villages.
Another sad and interesting thing is that the residents of those villages sometimes grow resistant to the pollutions...
The adaptation of humans as always is suprising..
Thank you, @seki1⭐️,
I've seen yards that looked like that, and children will play anywhere.
You are free from major pollution in Nigeria? Wow, you're lucky. With progress, though, usually pollution follows.
And I think you're right about getting resistance to pollution--that is to pathogens. But I don't think you get resistance to toxins. Those just build up in the ecosystem, I think.
I appreciate the visit and the high praise, my young friend. 🌈
Superb work, as usual!
I think that in spite of the numerous callings throughout all these years, people still don't realize how much pollution they are contributing to :(
Thank you! That's really kind of you. I think you're right about people, including me. Sometimes I find myself using more than I need to. We all have to use less. Period.
I appreciate the comment, @gabmr
Showing the trash makes one more aware of what we are doing to ourselves, time to clean up our act. If/when I get time I will delve into trying my hand at this sometime.
@tipu curate 2
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 35/75) Liquid rewards.
Thank you @joanstewart!
I wish you would join in. Once I stopped comparing myself to the artists in the community, I started really enjoying myself. I resent rules and restrictions. What I like about making the collage is, I'm free. I look at the picture, take any part of it that moves me, and do anything with it I want.
This week I have an ailing dog, a convalescing family member and taxes on my mind. Collage was a retreat 😇
I appreciate the comment, the reblog and the tipu. Thank you very much. Hope spring is treating you well🌷
Case of let go and let be when many pressing issues in RL get to us. Stay well and one day I might surprise you 🙃
The collage shape you made looks very impressive and meaningful, and the ship looks scary because it has very sharp teeth
I love that ship but it is really scary
You really did a superb work over here and I am so sure you must have put in a whole lot of great work to make this work