LUCIA THOME, 2021

EARTHEN

In the creation stories of the Lenape people, the Earth is created as soil is piled on the back of a great turtle that continues to grow until it is carrying the entire world. The turtle represented in EARTHEN is sculpted from compressed soil harvested from the Metal Bank Superfund Site. In 2008 the EPA approved remedial actions at the Metal Bank Site, such as installing a “soil cap,” which effectively traps contaminated sediments 3 feet below the surface. Is this what remediation really is? Will we just bury “away” the toxins and continue to pile an entire new world on top?