Pollution in Abstract

Kevin Coulton is a photographer with a passion for the protection of our environment. He is driven by a concern for his family history of cancer, which may be linked to the runoff of polluted water from rainstorms that contaminates the water we consume. He has combined his avocation of photography with his vocation as a hydrologist to produce an abstract avant-garde photographic series of water pollution called “Pollution in Abstract” to attract and educate the public. Since 1990, he has had over 40 public and gallery exhibitions of his “Pollution in Abstract” photography series, has given public presentations, and has had his photography published in newspapers, magazines, and books. He has also written about his work with editorials published in newspapers and an essay published in a photography magazine. He has appeared on television during the local evening news and on Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, Oregon and has won awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations. These compositions of seemingly insignificant drips and drops of pollutants from motor vehicles in the U.S. are, by his estimates, equivalent to about 3 times the volume of oil spilled during the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill…every year, and are likely contributing to a massive human health problem.