GOING AWAY FROM HERE
I have spent the last four years photographing Tangier Island off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay which is progressively being claimed by the waters surrounding it an average of nine acres every year. Tangier is projected to be uninhabitable in 50 years if nothing is done about it. When the residents are forced to evacuate, they will spread out over Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. We will lose an entire culture of people as unique as their dialect, and although they will still exist--the land they have called home for hundreds of years will not. This once untouched and proud crabbing community is predicted to be one of America’s first “climate change refugees.”
The very water that the residents of Tangier depend upon to survive, is swallowing them up an average of nine acres every year. Today, the island sits only 3 to 4 feet above sea level, and 1 ¼ miles wide by 3 miles long. Upon arrival by boat, it is hard to see the island off in the distance because of how low it sits to the water. Having few trees left, the only marker from the bay is the water tower of Tangier that has a crab on one side and a cross on the other. This deeply religious island has already been split by the Bay’s waters, which now seeps up through the ground below. Simple tasks like docking your boat are becoming more and more impossible. Fishermen have to tie up their boats to poles in order to prevent their boats from floating away at high tide. With erosion, the plants, trees, and protective grasses for wildlife are washing away as well. Cemeteries are overcrowded due to a lack of space to bury their dead. Tombstones and bodies are now being placed on the front lawns of loved ones’ homes more inland.
The people of Tangier and their situation have received attention from Al Gore, Donald Trump, and several media outlets including National Geographic, The New Yorker, and NPR affiliates, but the conversation of future implications still needs to be had.
I believe these photographs are an excellent route to shed light upon this concern of ongoing land loss and impending climate refugees as there is more at stake than just land when losing a place. It also means the destruction of a community, and all the things that make a community unique.
Tangier is not alone and sadly tells the tale many different low-lying cities in the US and around the world are facing in the next 80 years. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Miami, Florida; Atlantic City, New Jersey; New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; and Virginia Beach, Virginia will all be under water by 2100. By photographing Tangier Island, I hope to inform viewers of the need to take notice now, and to think about the difficult decisions that stand before us—how will we decide who and what is worth saving? How will we choose who receives the funds necessary to survive, and who are we willing to let wash away into the water?
For more information about the project, please visit: www.goingawayfromhere.com
The very water that the residents of Tangier depend upon to survive, is swallowing them up an average of nine acres every year. Today, the island sits only 3 to 4 feet above sea level, and 1 ¼ miles wide by 3 miles long. Upon arrival by boat, it is hard to see the island off in the distance because of how low it sits to the water. Having few trees left, the only marker from the bay is the water tower of Tangier that has a crab on one side and a cross on the other. This deeply religious island has already been split by the Bay’s waters, which now seeps up through the ground below. Simple tasks like docking your boat are becoming more and more impossible. Fishermen have to tie up their boats to poles in order to prevent their boats from floating away at high tide. With erosion, the plants, trees, and protective grasses for wildlife are washing away as well. Cemeteries are overcrowded due to a lack of space to bury their dead. Tombstones and bodies are now being placed on the front lawns of loved ones’ homes more inland.
The people of Tangier and their situation have received attention from Al Gore, Donald Trump, and several media outlets including National Geographic, The New Yorker, and NPR affiliates, but the conversation of future implications still needs to be had.
I believe these photographs are an excellent route to shed light upon this concern of ongoing land loss and impending climate refugees as there is more at stake than just land when losing a place. It also means the destruction of a community, and all the things that make a community unique.
Tangier is not alone and sadly tells the tale many different low-lying cities in the US and around the world are facing in the next 80 years. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Miami, Florida; Atlantic City, New Jersey; New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; and Virginia Beach, Virginia will all be under water by 2100. By photographing Tangier Island, I hope to inform viewers of the need to take notice now, and to think about the difficult decisions that stand before us—how will we decide who and what is worth saving? How will we choose who receives the funds necessary to survive, and who are we willing to let wash away into the water?
For more information about the project, please visit: www.goingawayfromhere.com