EVAPORATION PONDS
2018
Revealing the toxic brilliance of industrial waste pools, where shimmering fields of colour mask the hidden costs of energy production.
In Evaporation Ponds, Henner captures the dazzling geometries of waste reservoirs created by natural gas production. Seen from above, their glowing expanses resemble luminous abstractions, recalling Colour Field painting or celestial photographs. Yet beneath this painterly surface lies a record of toxicity: landscapes engineered to dispose of industrial by-products, rendered strangely seductive through the impartial gaze of the satellite. By aestheticising what is ordinarily concealed, Henner exposes the dissonance between beauty and harm at the heart of contemporary energy systems.
List of Works
Evaporation Pond #1, SRP Mesquite Generating Station, 2018
Inkjet print mounted to Dibond in floating frame with non-reflective glass
66.5x24.4 inches (169x62cm)
Evaporation Pond #2, SRP Mesquite Generating Station, 2018
Inkjet print mounted to Dibond in floating frame with non-reflective glass
52.8x21.3 inches (134x54cm)
Evaporation Pond, APS Redhawk Power Plant, 2018
Inkjet print mounted to Dibond in floating frame with non-reflective glass
27.6x26 inches (70x66cm)
“Evaporation Ponds are an interface between industry and the heavens. These golden and fluorescent ponds are the residual by-products of natural gas power plants and return processed waste water to the sky. Their radiant washes of colour and texture belie their toxic nature.”
— Mishka Henner
— Mishka Henner
