The Flint Water Crisis by Michael George Haddad With Pictures, Magazines, and Notes

Michael George Haddad’s design was put into Mona Hanna-Attisha's article written about how the Flint Water Crisis is happening in more than one city, like Washington and Newark, where worried parents are constantly in fear for their children’s life after being lied to.2 In her work she speaks about how she was able to reveal to the people that there was lead in the water as a common citizen, which is how Haddad’s design overall connects. Haddad is based in Canada, commissioned to design an outsiders view of what the Flint Water Crisis looks like to those based around the world. At first glance into his design, we see a leaking water fountain but instead of the clean colored blue water it is leaking something black like poison. When deciphering this graphic further, we see a man painting over this suspicion with a nice blue color to cover the harm in whatever is coming out of said fountain. Haddad’s graphic design surely can be seen as metaphorical in a sense but draws attention through its cartoonish graphic, giving this design a sense of humanity, into the symbolism of lead in the water and being continuously lied to by government officials that the water was safe to consume. The bold color palette of dark greys, blacks, whites, then the contrast of harsh blue to represent safety, cleanliness, and continuation of life in the water, try to lure the audience in that this can not only be happening to Flint, but to many other cities as well. Haddad does a great job at portraying this visual of the people having trust in their officials to keep them safe, but behind their backs, they continue to lie and cover up to keep up a good image and conjure in more money from the sick, poor, and the majority of Black individuals in these communities. This design as well does a great job at telling the story of the Flint Water Crisis, from contamination, through people having suspicions, to now officials like Rick Snyder trying to come in and cover the tracks from top to bottom. Overall, I believe this is why I chose this graphic because this design not only speaks towards the people struggling in this awful situation of lies and harm, while painting a clear picture of what was going on at the time. By taking one glance, any ordinary person can guess, while analyzers are able to dig in and see the racial discriminant and disrespect done to millions.