Walking by the Gowanus Canal for the first time in 2014, the water shone with an vibrant and unreal hue not unlike what one might see in the remains of the painter’s sink—greens, blues, and violets iridescent on the surface of the water. Gowanus started as a crucial waterway for the shipping industry in 1849 and for almost 165 years has served as a toxic sewage dumping ground.
In Mumbai I grew up with something similar but different. There are massive garbage dumps and sewage canals throughout the city, but only those that can’t possibly move away continue to live close to them. No ships pass and no neighborhoods develop around their poisonous edges.Â
Located between two sought-after Brooklyn neighborhoods filled with brownstones and cafés, the Gowanus Canal is being dolled up much like the Grand Canal of Venice or Bruges. Children picnic outside a sparkling Whole Foods while peering into the murky waters, and luxury condominiums sprout along its edges.Â
These are images captured to show the ending of an era and beginning of our desperate search for ‘clean’ land…
Photos taken with a Mamiya 7 II medium format camera.
