[From the top: diagram by SCAPE of off-shore oil facilities in the Gulf; Richard Misrach’s “Roadside Vegetation and Orion Refining Corporation, Good Hope, Louisiana, 1998” ; diagram by SCAPE of the various chemical products manufactured and refined in “Cancer Alley”. All from Petrochemical America, and visible at a higher resolution in this gallery at the New Yorker.]

If you’re in New York in the next week or so, you might want to catch one of the several events related to the launch of photographer Richard Misrach and landscape architect Kate Orff’s new book, Petrochemical America, which “depicts and unpacks the complex cultural, physical, and economic ecologies along 150 miles of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, an area of intense chemical production that first garnered public attention as “Cancer Alley” when unusual occurrences of cancer were discovered in the region”.

The several events include a lecture and book signing at MoMA this Thursday (6:30 pm — RSVPs are apparently required and available through Aperture), an opening reception at Aperture Gallery this Friday evening (from 6 to 8), and a panel next Tuesday (25th), also at Aperture Gallery. The work from Petrochemical America will be exhibited at Aperture until October 6, so even if you miss these events, you can still catch the exhibition.

And of course — Kate will also be a member of the very exciting line-up we have scheduled for DredgeFest NYC next Friday (the 28th), though the topics of conversation will be a bit closer to New York itself.