Water & Oil

There’s been a lot of internet white noise about something recently – Stephen Meisel’s Water and Oil shoot for vogue iTalia. 

The shoot was basically models playing out animals dying of oil exposure from the BP oil spill. The models are splayed on rocks, wearing black clothes, smeared in oil.

Some people have been saying this shoot glamourizes a tragedy – some people its the fashion world getting a conscience.

To be honest, I’m not so sure about this one. The BP oil spill was a tragedy – the hubris of a large company resulted in massive amounts of environmental damage and destroyed thousands of peoples livelihoods. It shouldn’t be treated lightly.

My thing is – this is a commercial shoot. It was done to display clothes which are for sale, in a magazine which is also for sale. The shoot was not a work of art. It tried to express artistically a point – but essentially it’s a commercial enterprise. And I don’t think it’s okay to use such a tragedy for commercial profit.

Would I have problem if this were done in Stephen Meisel’s spare time solely as an artistic project? With no commercial gain on his part? Maybe – But I think I probably would have to address the problem of glamourizing such a tragedy then.

It’s tricky. You have to admit it’s a good shoot – visually amazing. But yes, undecided on this one. 

You can see NY magazines behind the scenes video of the shoot here. And some of the pictures themselves here (with a few different viewpoints for you to look at before you decide).