LA is the largest urban oil field in the country. Nearly four million Los Angeles residents live on 28 oil fields containing 3,000 active wells, many unaware of the toxic effects. Primarily Black and brown neighborhoods, however, have long borne the brunt of oil infrastructure’s health and environmental impacts. Health risks of proximity to industrial oil activity include decreased cognitive function, nosebleeds, migraines, asthma, preterm birth, and cancer. Immersed in Oil documents the most affected neighborhoods, visualizing the everyday impacts of LA fossil fuel production and highlighting the experiences of BIPOC communities living in petroculture precarity. I photograph the community impacts of oil drilling and refining in Southern California, documenting the various sites of oil production in the urban spaces of Los Angeles and the farmlands of Kern County.
Supported by the Pulitzer Center/Diversify Photo Eyewitness Photojournalism Grant. Published in High Country News, LMU Magazine, and Earthjustice. Featured at Adobe Max 2023 and the Adobe Changemaker 2023 series.