Lives on the Line: Mariner East Pipeline Photo Show Opens Sunday at Swarthmore Friends Meeting

“Lives on the Line,” a series of photographs illustrating the human and environmental costs of the Mariner East pipeline construction through Pennsylvania and Delaware County, will be on display at Swarthmore Friends Meeting, 12 Whittier Place on the Swarthmore College campus, from Sunday, April 7 through Sunday, May 12.

Carrie Danielle and her children by a Mariner East drill site in Exton, Pa. Photo by Chris Baker Evens.

The public is invited to the exhibit opening at 3 p.m. on April 7 for conversation with photographer Chris Baker Evens and light refreshments. Admission is free, and artwork will be for sale.

The photos by Philadelphia photojournalist Baker Evens document the construction damage and protests around the controversial pipeline system, whose Delaware County section is being built just west of Media, roughly parallel to Route 352. The pipeline, which runs through densely populated areas near houses, schools, and the 800-resident Fair Acres geriatric center, is intended to carry dangerous, highly-volatile liquids to Marcus Hook for shipment to Europe, to be made into plastic.

Pipes for the Mariner East pipeline ready for burial behind a house. Photo by Chris Baker Evens

The photos portray “the visually appalling construction zones” in leafy suburbs and “the contrast between the human desire to be surrounded by nature against seemingly unchecked corporate interests,” in Baker Evens’ description of the project.

The public is also invited on Thursday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. to hear Baker Evens discuss the artistic and social goals of his pipeline documentation project.

The exhibit will be open weekday afternoons through May 12, and some weekends by appointment. Contact Meeting Secretary Jeanne Damico at meeting@swarthmore.edu or 610-328-8699 to arrange a visit.