Bootsy Holler: Contaminated
© Bootsy Holler
Written by Ann Catherine
Holler’s series Contaminated illustrates the grim effects of the U.S. Government’s failure to protect not only their employees, but their families, friends, and neighbors exposed to the radioactive iodine that was released into the air and water.
On January 6, 1943, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, General Leslie Groves endorsed the location of Hanford, Washington as the new site for a plutonium facility. Those who lived in neighboring towns White Bluff and Richland, along with the Wanapum tribe, whose sacred land resides along the Columbia River, were evicted from their homes to make way for U.S. government officials and military.
© Bootsy Holler
As a result, the Hanford Nuclear Site was built, and those employed by the government as part of The Manhattan Project were brought in, including the grandfather of photographer Bootsy Holler, whose family moved to Richland outside of Hanford when he was transferred to the site.
Manufactured at Hanford was the plutonium used for the Trinity Test, Fat Man – the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki – and various Cold War weapons. Like many in World War II and the proceeding Cold War, very few people in and around Hanford walked away unscathed.
© Bootsy Holler
In Holler’s series Contaminated, “Dusty Thyroid”, Holler’s grandpa Dusty, a physicist, smiles at the camera. His hair is slicked back, and he is dressed in a suit, looking off into the distance. There is a hole burned into his throat. The hole is deep and dark, with a small light peeking through. It is symbolic of the cancer he would develop as a result of his employment with the U.S. Government. The image evokes sympathy and heartbreak — at the time, this man may have been unaware of what was waiting for him in the years ahead.
Pictured in “Jack Button” is her father. He too is clothed in a suit, has his hair slicked back, and looks off into the distance. The difference between he and his father is a button sewn over his mouth. The word “CLASSIFIED” is stamped over his forehead, highlighting the secrets he was required to keep during his employment with the government and the twenty-five years after his retirement. The story behind this piece is that one day, while working for the Department of Energy, papers came across her father’s desk to be marked as classified or declassified. Among these documents were the facts that pointed to how his father possibly got thyroid cancer — and ultimately, he made the decision to keep those documents secret.
© Bootsy Holler
In the photo “Breast Cancer,” Holler’s mother sits at a table in a restaurant or bar. She is smiling at a woman to her right, in the left corner of the photo. All appears to be normal, except for the red embroidery around her breast — various versions of this same picture exist, with different designs all around her breast and chest, representing the breast cancer that infected her and other people after exposure to radioactive material. These multiples, as well as stacked photos of her grandfather Dusty, represent the thousands of people who developed the same illnesses.
© Bootsy Holler
Between 1944 and 1972, two million individuals were exposed to 237 radionuclides released into the air pathway or through the Columbia River pathway, leading to an increase in thyroid diseases and cancer. Contaminated highlights the importance of holding the U.S. government accountable when they put their interests above the safety and care of their people. The series itself is part of a bigger project in the making by Bootsy Holler, known as Nuclear Family, an extension of past family series revolving around family, place, and secrets. What is important to Holler is that people connect, feel, and think beyond the story in order to know they are not alone.
To see more of Holler’s work, visit her website
