| May 2023 |
By Robert Rowe
Environmental issues are front and center in the work of Bradley University senior photography major Stephen Pritchard. His work documenting Illinois’ coal fired power plants was recently on display at the Peoria Art Guild.
Contrasting striking visuals with the harsh reality, the series of images of smoke from Illinois’ coal-fired power plants tinted by golden sunlight were paired with QR codes that would take the viewer to the Ashtracker website for that specific power station.
He said he embarked on this project in order to “better understand environmental issues facing my home state.” “Coal is a pollutant at every stage of its acquisition, transportation and usage. From coal dust blowing off of train cars to coal piles at power plants letting pollutants seep into groundwater to the emissions from the burning itself, this process impacts the surrounding communities at every level.”
Some of Illinois’s coal-fired power plants were shut down in 2022, and most are scheduled to be decommissioned by 2028 under the Climate and Equitable Jobs act passed in 2021. Describing his experience of being up close to a power plant, he says “I will never forget how small l felt at that moment, standing under a plume of smoke so massive that I was able to follow it for miles.”
In another series of images, he creates a powerful metaphor for the creeping effects of climate change. For these images, he staged several scenes in which a typical office worker is seated at a generic office workstation that happens to be outdoors in a couple of feet of water. As chilling as photographing in a lake must have been for Pritchard, even more chilling is the nonchalance with which the office worker seems to go about his tasks, implying that he accepts this condition as the new normal. Chilling also is the thought of the shuttered power plants and the legacy they leave behind of toxic ash and tainted groundwater.
It is heartening to see young artists using their talent to speak out about environmental issues. Young people have an especially large stake in ensuring a clean and sustainable future.
After he graduates this May, Stephen, who grew up in Peoria and has family in the area, plans to continue his documentary project. He has his work cut out for him. The largest pollutant emitter, the Prairie State Energy Campus, has until 2045 to be carbon neutral.
Images from Pritchard’s photographic series are available to view online.
