It reminds us that toxicity is not only a chemical reaction. It is also an ethical, political, behavioral reaction. A lot of times it brings communities together and strengthens their ties, in this case a group of academics.
Who are the supporters in the picture? Are they academics? People affected by cancer, are the they relatives? Does showing up in the courthouse make them targeted people? Are they already targeted? There is also a silencing pattern in Ecuador making it really hard to speak up because it’s hard to get public support.
It is a newspaper photograph. It’s not clear who took the picture, a journalist? Someone from the group of academics? Someone from the justice department? Without the caption it would be hard to know what the gathering was about. The place doesn’t look like a typical courthouse either so it’s hard to relate it to a justice process. I can’t really relate the image to “toxicity” without the caption.
I think it would be very useful if the image included something suggesting that it’s a courthouse, and if possible something to indicate its connection to the toxic spaces it is documenting.
Environmental toxicity in its material form can lead to a figurative kind of toxicity. It’s frequent that the behavior and relations around toxicity is also toxic. But as a cliché, there’s always something good we can get out of it: in this case the solidarity of the group of people. It is also important to note that the whole lawsuit process also makes the toxicity more visible to people and history.
