Voices Unheard @ Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson

From Ambos Nogales, Denise Moreno Ramírez entered her dissertation work wanting to center the invaluable knowledge and community science of those impacted by pollution themselves. Voices Unheard is a series of oral histories of people directly affected by pollution and environmental racism in Arizona. She focused on the Tucson International Airport Area (TIAA) and Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund sites. Included here are excerpts from her series on the TIAA site. These interviews show community science in action, describing how community members use their embodied knowledge, research methods, and data collection to create their own scientific evidence. Moreno Ramírez concluded her interviews by taking simple Polaroid photos of each interviewee.

These excerpts from Voices Unheard: Arizona’s Environmental History include hydrologist James Lemmon, Southsider and Tucsonans for a Clean Environment cofounder Melinda Bernal, Tucsonans for a Clean Environment cofounder Eduardo Quintana, and Southsider and Unified Community Advisory Board President Yolanda Herrera. Collectively, their stories exposed the callousness of Hughes Aircraft and other polluters and the strength that emerges from community organizing and solidarity.

Read about the exhibition opening and the other artists involved.