Greeting from Niagara

Natalia Neuhaus' poweful exhibition Greetings from Niagara tells the story of a land exploited and poisoned in secrecy under the pretense of war, first for the Manhattan Project, and later in service of the Cold War. Through archival research and documentary photography, this long-term project pieces together a legacy of radioactive contamination and an environmental crime of surreal proportions. Fueled by the very feature that draws millions of tourists each year, its waterfalls, this once-thriving industrial hub has become the epicenter of a covert health crisis known only to a few. At its heart lies a poorly supervised, concrete-like radioactive gravel— a byproduct of uranium refinement process— that was commercialized and spread as filler throughout the region, transforming a once-idyllic town into a cancer factory decades in the making. Greetings from Niagara is the chronicle of a profoundly dark, if not radioactive, chapter in American history, one that has, for far too long, denied those most affected not only the truth about the dangers beneath their feet, but also any attempt at governmental accountability.