Perspectives: Enigmatic Stream

Through the lens of New Orleans photographer Richard Sexton, the factories, plants, and refineries bordering the lower Mississippi River valley, normally mundane eyesores, become towering, hulking masses, appearing more as the backdrop to a dystopian thriller flick than the setting of our own backyard. 

Through his new book, Enigmatic Stream: Industrial Landscapes of the Lower Mississippi River, and an exhibit at The Historic New Orleans Collection, Sexton captures the stark dichotomy that exists between the rural, agricultural terrain and heavy industrial landscapes along the seventy-mile stretch on River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. 

“My philosophy with this project is that I merely want to hold a mirror up so that everyone can look at this, understand what it is, see what it is, and think about how they feel about it and what it means,” said Sexton. “It’s all these things: the engineered status of the river, it’s global warming, it is the potential for problems that exist when people live in close proximity to heavy industry.”

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In one hundred photographs taken over two decades, Sexton frames the juxtaposition between the man-made and the natural embodied by the petrochemical corridor, offering an urgent reminder of the cost of economic prosperity: environmental devastation. Shot in black and white, the dramatic collection underscores our fragile relationship with the waterway that is Louisiana’s lifeblood. Sexton extends a cautionary eye to the exploitation of these finite natural resources and the tension it presents, especially when it interferes with residential life. In one photo, a Valero refinery plant rises in the background behind a home in Meraux, unsettling in its proximity. Inherent in these imposing structures is a sense of mystery, a lack of transparency perpetuated by barbed wire fences and security guards. 

“The landscape has changed very quickly and very radically. Now we have to decide what to do about it.” —Richard Sexton

“The River Road has become a very convenient place to hide all of this, and it’s been done since the nineteenth century,” said Sexton, who aims to elucidate the physical footprint of the industrial sector to a public which rarely encounters it, unless they deliberately take Airline Highway instead of Interstate 10. 

The risk-versus-reward ratio is vastly different from what it was just a few decades ago. One of Sexton’s favorite artifacts showcased in the exhibit is a 1989 placemat from the Airline Motors restaurant in LaPlace. It features a map of all of the industrial plants along the river as potential sites to visit, and proudly describes the river as the “waterway of industry.” The relic conveys how substantially our understanding of climate change has shifted in a relatively short period of time as we’ve entered this Information Age, said Sexton. 

To Sexton, the solution doesn’t lie in the future, but rather the past. “The technology is already there, you just have to look at how people lived in the nineteenth century,” he said. “The landscape has changed very quickly and very radically. Now we have to decide what to do about it.” 

Richard Sexton is a fine art and media photographer based in New Orleans, whose career spans over four decades. To find more of his work, visit richardsextonstudio.com. 

Enigmatic Stream: Industrial Landscapes of the Lower Mississippi River will show at The Historic New Orleans Collection until April 5. 

In February, Sexton will be profiled on LPB’s Art Rocks, the weekly showcase of visual and performing arts hosted by Country Roads publisher James Fox-Smith. Tune in Friday, February 21 at 8:30 p.m. or Saturday, February 22 at 5:30 p.m. across the LPB network. lpb.org/artrocks.