It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since British Petroleum wrecked the Gulf Coast after their Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and altering the region and the lives of millions of Americans in its wake. Outsiders and Gulf residents watched as the well pumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the ecosystem and listened to BP executives skirt responsibility and action. This environmental disaster visited the region during a terrible recession and only 4 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the economy of the region.
To date, it is the worst ecological disaster in American history. We also know next to nothing about the workers killed as most, if not all, of the attention has been focused on the environmental impact and the scramble for survival of those whose businesses were hit.
BP wants us to believe their commercials disguised as public service announcements. They want us to believe that everything is back to normal in the Gulf. They want us to believe that it’s OK for tourists to visit and eat the shrimp, but do we really believe that? No, and neither do the artists and activists who rallied against BP as soon as word and images of the spill hit media airwaves. Which is why we’ve compiled a gallery of their efforts, their protests and stance against a multinational corporation with not just oil, but blood on its hands.
The range of art varies from a subtle tweak or alteration of the BP logo, to graphic representation of animals caught in the oily wake of the explosion. There’s even puppetry. Whatever the chosen medium, the message and intent is clear: do not forget and do not repeat.
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One of the earliest works of art against BP was the depiction of the murder of Spongebob.
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The BP Logo as a dying entity.
