South Durban Basin
by Neith Moore

 

​Breathe

Breathe

Again… try to breathe

Smoke billows and grey ash coats my lungs

Poison can’t be seen but plants crust, wilt and die

Petrochemicals - invisible - such beautiful names

‘Petchem’, toluene, benzene, styrene, ethylene, butadiene.

Where did you go? Where are you now?

 

(on the occasion of a big plastics and wax warehouse fire in the

South Durban Basin)

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Artist Statement

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I once lived looking down on South Durban Bay and experienced the horrific pollution resulting from a fire in a harbour warehouse containing petrochemicals in 2017.

In my video, I tried to create the look and feel of the original faded Magic Lantern slides, but - instead of the original idealized utopian Durban landscape - I created the dystopian reality of life in the 21st century.

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WEBSITE: Magic Lantern page