NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Eleven human figurines were placed on Elysian Fields today. It’s a memorial dedicated to the 11 people who died during the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in 2010.
The memorial, created by Mississippi artist Jason Kimes, has been placed in the neutral ground on Elysian Fields near Dauphine Street.
It was made using thousands of steel disks.
The idea for the memorial came after the artist noticed that the life-loss was overshadowed by the 172 million gallons of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. It would become the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history.
The memorial isn’t the only recognition this month of the 2010 disaster.
The film “Deepwater Horizon,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell, will open in theaters Sept. 30.
Actor Michael Howell was at the site of the memorial this afternoon. Howell plays the role of Roy Wyatt Kemp in the upcoming “Deepwater Horizon” movie. Kemp was one of the 11 people who died in the explosion.
“I love that they’re honoring the 11 guys that died,” Howell said. “On some level, it seemed to be washed away with the coverage of the oil spill, so something to honor the 11 men – the 11 heroes – that died is great.”