Matt Black
Title
Miami OK, Year
Billy Forbis, 55, grew up in the town of Picher, Oklahoma, a lead and zinc mining center that was evacuated due to unsafe conditions and contamination in 2009. He is photographed in the trailer where he lived while battling methamphetamine addiction. Now clean, he helps other recovering addicts in his town.
USA. Miami, Oklahoma. 2024. Jill Micka, 60, blamed her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease, and other health issues on exposure to lead and other harmful substances as a child growing up in proximity to Tar Creek, near Oklahoma's historic lead and zinc mines, now a Superfund site. Jill passed away on December 23, 2024.
Rebecca Jim, Executive Director of LEAD Agency.
Grace Goodeagle photographed at home.
Rebecca Jim, Executive Director of LEAD Agency.
Duckling.
Chat pile from lead and zinc mining.
Flooded mining district
Abandoned mine works.
Chat pile from lead and zinc mining along Tar Creek, one of the most polluted rivers in America.
Flooded and abandoned mine shaft.
Chat piles from lead and zinc mining.
Tar Creek.
Hillside.
Flooded mine shaft.
Downtown.
Roadside ditch.
Downtown.
Downtown.
More
Founded in 1997, the Local Environmental Action Demanded (LEAD) Agency addresses the mining-related pollution at the Tar Creek Superfund Site in Miami, OK—home to nine federally recognized tribes. Contaminants like cadmium, lead, and zinc continue to threaten health and the environment. LEAD’s Indigenous-led team pushes for government action and a full cleanup. Their work includes floodplain mapping, community surveys, a rain garden, and the Tar Creek Conference, which brings together stakeholders for lasting solutions. Matt Black is a documentary photographer from California’s Central Valley whose work explores poverty, migration, and environmental crisis. A Magnum member since 2019, his American Geography project and other work have earned honors from the W. Eugene Smith Fund, RFK Awards, and National Geographic.