Kelley O’Brien
Residence Time
July 8–July 30, 2023

In 2014 it was reported that an unknown quantity of the carcinogen “dioxane 1,4” had leaked into the Cape Fear River Basin contaminating the drinking water of over one million people. Despite the known risks of liver/kidney damage and death, dioxane 1,4 remains unregulated at the city, state, and federal level. This project investigates the city’s complicity in violence, both against humans and the environment, in support of the industries that fund Greensboro. As a highly miscible (i.e. mixes well) substance in water that does not readily biodegrade in the environment, dioxane 1,4 is virtually undetectable without scientific equipment, however in large volumes it has a distinct smell. Often described as sickly sweet like overripe fruit, the scent of dioxane 1,4 envelopes the viewer in the waters laden with unseen state-sanctioned violence. Through overlapping social, environmental, and industrial concerns this installation illustrates that all local actions flow out to sea.

The project was organized In collaboration with Marcus Brathwaite: Sound Design; Kevin Vanek: Metal Fabrication; Nick Rutz: Image Fabrication; and Kathleen Block: Assistant Videographer.

About the artist:

Kelley O’Brien is an interdisciplinary artist working in the American South, with her background in architecture and design. Kelley’s work negotiates boundaries between industrial and “natural” landscapes, through a feminist perspective, to explore cultural links between gender hierarchy and the domination of the natural world. Political and environmental systems intertwine to form the core of her practice, often taking the form of time-based media and installations, to offer a glimpse into personal and collective experiences across spaces of heightened social and environmental importance.

She has exhibited at the CICA Museum (Korea), National College of Art and Design (Ireland), Stroboskop Art Space (Warsaw), as well as Transformer Station, McDonough Museum of Art, and The Everson Museum of Art in the United States. Kelley has been awarded grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, ArtsGreensboro, Ohio Arts Council, Wexford Arts Council, and a Fulbright Scholarship to the Philippines. She attended residencies at Green Papaya Art Space in the Philippines, the Irish Museum of Art in Dublin, Laboratory Spokane, Wassaic Project, and the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden.

Her artistic practice extends into her academic and curatorial research through collaborative projects with Francis Halsall under the title “Mapping Systems.” Collectively, they have held workshops, lecture courses, and curated residencies in Ireland, the United States, and the Philippines. Through her art, curatorial, and collaborative research practices, O’Brien seeks to highlight precarious and indeterminate environments as a political act to give power to untold histories, and provide underrepresented perspectives as alternative ways to critically engage with our ecosystems locally and globally.