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Amber Watson Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 11 September 2013 Appaloosas and the White House Terry Evans uses rhetoric as she documents the North Dakota oil booms environmental impact through photography. Evanss photographs are examples of rhetorical discourse, since rhetorical discourse is usually intended to influence an audience to accept an idea, and then to act in a manner consistent with that idea (Herrick 12). Her photographs have a strong political viewpoint as she rhetorically portrays the oil booms negative impact on the land. Through her photographs, Evans is influencing her audience to accept the idea that the North Dakota oil boom is destroying the land. Thus, her audience is supposed to act negatively against the oil boom. Her audience are people who immensely care about the environment. Terry Evans utilizes scale, framing, and contrast. She also appeals to the logos and pathos of her audience, since she aims to elicit an emotion or engage the audiences loyalties or commitments (Herrick 13). Evans uses these rhetorical tools to draw her audiences attention to see that oil has more significance than the environment, or the people, and that the oil boom is destroying the land. As part of her series, Evans photographs four appaloosas resting in the middle of the field. Evans could have taken the photograph numerous different ways. She, however, took the picture at such a high angle. Her use of scale is considered to be rhetorical because she distorts the photograph, which forces her audience to further evaluate the photograph. At first glance, the appaloosas appear unrecognizable, because, with the use of scale, they are represented as small

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dots. The animals smaller sizes compared to the rest of the photograph implies their insignificance. Terry Evans rhetorically argues that when it comes to oil, animals do not matter. Another photograph in the series is composed of dead, barren land with an oil drill and a white house. The wide, open negative space of the photograph invites the audience in. This is an example of immediacy since the photographs purpose is to disappear, so the audience can be immersed within a virtual reality (Bolter 23). This immediacy is persuasive in terms of presenting the argument, since her viewers feels like they are part of the photograph. Thus, they would feel that the negative impact of the oil boom on the land is also impacting them negatively. There is a white house towards the back of the photograph, appearing smaller to the audience. The oil drill is towards the front of the photograph, appearing larger. Since the machinery appears bigger than the house, Evans implies that the oil machinery has more importance than the people. Evans also framed the Appaloosas photograph in which only the animals and ground compose the photograph. With the use of framing, the medium draws attention to itself; hypermediacy. This is an example of hypermediacy because the illusion of realistic representation is some- how stretched or altogether ruptured (Bolter 34). The oil machines are not included within the photograph, so the audience can focus its attention on the horses. The audience can immediately see the stark contrast between the horses white coats and the green grass. Upon further examination, Evans viewers become hyperaware of the oil spots covering the horses. The tiny dark oil spots form a contrast against the bright white hairs of the horses. With this, the photographer appeals to the logos of her audience. When Evans appeals to the logos of her viewers, she is appealing to their sense of reasoning in order to persuade them that the oil boom is destroying the land. Even though there is no oil machinery in the photograph, the

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audience can make the logical conclusion that the machine caused the oil spots on the appaloosas. Thus, Evans put the oil machinery in a negative light, highlighting its damaging effects on the environment. Evans frames the White House photograph around the barren, dead land, an oil drill and a white house. Even though the oil rig is dominating the picture, the white house is the focal point. The audiences eyes are instantly drawn towards the house. It can be logically deduced that when there is a house, there should be some other symbols of humanity. The audience expects to see other houses, cars, or at least people. Nothing else, however, composes the photograph; the house is the only semblance of humanity. Thus, Evans appeals to the pathos, the emotion, of her audience by providing them with a sense of isolation from humanity. Evans evokes an emotional response when she appeals to the pathos of her audience, which persuades them to her argument. Upon feeling the sense of isolation, they can fully start to understand the negative effects of the North Dakotas oil boom. Since the audience sees that the house is the only semblance of humanity and feels a sense of isolation, they comprehend that the oil boom is destroying the land and making it inhabitable. Further in the back of the White House picture, away from the oil machinery, the land is filled with vegetation. The objects composed in the photograph are used to contrast each other. Where there is machinery, there is dead land and no other symbol of humanity. Where there is no machinery, however, the land seems to proliferate. Evans appeals to the logos of her audience with the use of contrast. Her audience can logically conclude that the oil boom is destroying the land since when there is no sense of life, oil machines are present. In noticing that, the audience can see the conflict between man-made machines and nature.

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These photographs work together as a series to elicit an emotional response within the audience that would draw attention to the negative impacts of the oil boom. In the White House photograph, the main focus of the photo is the contrast between the white house and the oil machinery. In the Appaloosas photograph, the horses are the main point. When the audience looks at the White House photograph, they might not have the same emotional response as they do with the Appaloosas photograph. Even though the White House photograph heavily suggests that humans were affected by the oil boom, the viewers cannot see those people affected. The audience cannot make an emotional connection with the people because there is only the white house and no other semblance of human beings. In the Appaloosas photograph, however, there is a greater emotional response when the audience sees the stark white coat of the horses plagued with oil spots. It can be concluded that there is a greater emotional response, because the audience can see the immediate effects of the oil drill on the animals, not just the environment. The audience knows that oil is toxic and that it is unnatural for oil to be on animals. There is a greater emotional connection since the viewers are shown the damage. However, there is no oil machinery shown in that photograph, so viewers can easily be confused as to what caused the oil spots. Hence, the White House and the Appaloosas photographs work together as series to further show illustrate the damaging impacts of the oil boom. Critics can claim that there is no rhetorical argument behind the Appaloosas and that I am analyzing the photograph too much. In passing, the horses on the field can appear beautiful to the onlooker. Critics can make the argument that it was not Evanss intention to photograph horses with oil spots in order to document that the oil boom is affecting the land. They can further illustrate their point by saying that there is no oil machinery present in the photograph. However,

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when the photographs are viewed holistically, it becomes evident that it was Evanss intention to photograph the oil covered horses. Evan purposefully did not frame the oil machinery with in the photograph, so all the attention can be focused on the horses. It can be argued that Evans wanted the initially reaction be that the photograph is beautiful, so the discovery of the oil spots would be shocking. Terry Evans rhetorically persuade her audience to believe that the North Dakota oil boom is negatively effecting the land, people and animals and that oil has more significance over people or the environment. By doing so, Evans performs the social function of assisting advocacy, since she is drawing attention to [the impacts of the oil boom and significance of oil] and making it possible to gain adherence to them (Herrick 18). Evans uses rhetoric in her photographs by adapting the messages to particular audiences, and in rendering those messages more persuasive (Herrick 18). By directing attention to her messages, Terry Evans seeks support in letting everyone see the negative effect of the oil boom on the environment.

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Work Cited

Bolter, J. David, and Richard A. Grusin. "Immediation, Hypermediacy, and Remediation." Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999. N. pag. Print. Evans, Terry. Appaloosas Resting on Davis Prairie. 2011. Photograph. North Dakota Oil Boom, Snite Musuem, South Bend. Evans, Terry. Oil Pad on Jorgenson Land. 2011. Photograph. North Dakota Oil Boom, Snite Museum, South Bend. Herrick, James A. "An Oerview of Rhetoric." The History and Theory of Rhetoric. 2nd ed. N.p.: Allyn & Bacon, 2001. 5-19. Print.