Micah
Cash

Dangerous Waters

Dangerous Waters investigates the landscapes and contemporary social impact of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) hydroelectric program. These photographs explore the tenuous balance between landscapes designed for hydroelectric generation and public recreation. While these dams have become symbols of social and economic prosperity, they also remain visual reminders of loss, population removal, and eminent domain. The ecological and personal sacrifices are privately internalized and the social benefits publicly celebrated.

Over eight decades since its founding by the United States Congress, the social presence of TVA is one of reassurance: employment and opportunity, people before profit, technology as benevolent, and affordable and abundant electricity. The accompanying recreational land is a civic contract to the descendants of those families that were relocated and to the memory of inundated ancestral land.