Fading in Freshwater (15” x 19”) communicates findings about how herbicides break down in Wisconsin’s lakes. 2,4-D is one of the common herbicides used to control Eurasian watermilfoil, an invasive plant that can block sunlight from other species under the lake’s surface and thus cause them to die off. While the herbicide is helpful in fending off this pesky plant, its concentrations in the environment need to be monitored and managed due to potential human health risks.

UW-Madison Ph.D student Amber White, studying under Dr. Christy Remucal, conducted research on how long the chemical stays around by testing water and sediment samples from lakes around Wisconsin. Her team found that photochemical degradation – in essence, degradation by sunlight – of 2,4-D is very slow. Rather, they concluded that microbes in the sediment must be driving degradation of the chemical, essentially using it as a food source. 

One of the things Kizer appreciates about the medium of lithography is it enables them to create gradual transitions in color and opacity. In Fading in Freshwater, Kizer depicts the molecular structure of 2,4-D in a repeating pattern. While the pattern retains most of its opacity on the sunlit side, it fades out on the side with the microbes to illustrate their importance in the herbicide’s breakdown processad