marcellus shale

The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project tells stories, through photographic images, of how the lives of Pennsylvanians have been and continue to be affected by the Marcellus Shale Gas Industry. By creating a visual document of the environmental, social and economic impact of drilling, the work engages communities in the current Marcellus debate while providing important historical images for the future.

In capturing images of the people and places most affected by gas drilling, photographers Noah Addis, Nina Berman, Brian Cohen, Scott Goldsmith, Lynn Johnson, and Martha Rial examine both the positive and negative results of drilling and how the environment and the communities that live with the resources are being shaped.  Conceived by Brian Cohen, and organized by Brian Cohen and Laura Domencic, Director of Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the work has been distilled into a traveling exhibition that opened in October, 2012 at Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PF/PCA), with accompanying lectures, book and online archive.

Brian Cohen’s landscape photographs, made principally in Westmoreland, Somerset and Butler Counties, consider the Pennsylvania landscape in the context of the advent of gas drilling, and can be previewed here.  Brian has also been documenting the stories of Pennsylvanian families and the positive and negative consequences of gas drilling on their lives.

The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project has been featured in the New York Times Lens blog, and the exhibit has been reviewed in a variety of news media including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project is generously supported by The Sprout Fund and The Pittsburgh Foundation, Josh Whetzel, Nancy Bernstein and Cathy Raphael.