ᦓꪖ᥅ᦔꪮꪀ꠸ᥴꪖ༉‧₊

school of the holy beast

The imagery on the covers of the Godflesh albums ‘Songs of Love and Hate’ and ‘Love and Hate in Dub’ are taken from photographs by two different photographers, but both working for National Geographic: Sam Kittner (top image, November 1988) and Joel Satore (middle images, December 1989). The images show the Holy Rosary Cemetery overlooking the Occidental Chemical and Union Carbide refinery in Taft, Louisiana - part of an area at the time dubbed the ‘petrochemical corridor’ and ‘Cancer Alley’. In 1988, community activism led to the ‘Great Louisiana Toxic March’, concerning principally the high incidence of miscarriages and cancer in the area, and the thousand or so tonnes of toxic waste being dumped into the waterways each and every day. Today whilst the graveyard is still in operation, the 2000 census of the city recorded a population of zero. A recent shot from 2012 is shown in the bottom image.