Surface Tension is a series of sculptural images which investigate the history of military waste dumping in Lake Superior through immersive, large-scale cyanotype prints on #12 canvas suspended from custom metal racks evocative of tenting and shipping materials. The prints depict aerial images of Lake Superior's surface texture captured above sites where the US Army dumped barrels containing munitions manufacturing waste between 1959 and 1962. Supported by accompanying aerial video footage, the life-scale work draws contrast between the lake's dramatic beauty and the hidden environmental legacies beneath its surface.
In 1959, the U.S. Army was responsible for supervising a contract with Honeywell to produce assemblies for anti-personnel grenades and mines at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) in Arden Hills/New Brighton.² During the three-year period from 1959 and 1962, Honeywell contractors dumped over 1,400 barrels containing over 830,000 pounds of classified grenade scrap into Lake Superior¹ Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s several investigations have taken place, but the most extensive was conducted by the Red Cliff Band of Chippewa. They conducted remedial investigations in 2013 and 2014, including an ecological screening and a human risk assessment; these represent the most comprehensive investigations of the barrels to date¹ There is much debate of the contents of the barrels and the safety of the contents on human and ecological life, largely because each time new barrels were recovered, new contents were discovered¹
¹Charrière, E., Langston, N. Dumping military waste into Lake Superior: the historic legacies of secrecy, censorship, and uncertainty. Water Hist 15, 173–200 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-023-00329-y
²Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. (2008, October). Facts about the Lake Superior barrels (Publication No. c-w2-01). https://www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/c-w2-01.pdf
Image Credit: Steven Lang
Surface Tension
2026
Cyanotype on #12 canvas, aerial video, 550 parachute cord, custom EMT racking system
18'x5'x3', Series of 4
Flight Path Map (Talmadage River Site)
2026
16"x20"
Graphite on paper