Shadows of Industrialization

Shadows of Industrialization is a multi-media project grounded in photographs and interviews with industrial workers in Milwaukee from the 1960s to the 1980s, when the city was a manufacturing powerhouse. Beginning in the late 1970s, however, major industries shipped jobs to non-union plants in the south and, subsequently, outside the United States. Factories were replaced with strip malls, office buildings or apartments. Family-supporting union jobs were replaced with low-wage and/or part-time jobs. 

 

The 12 portraits that follow focus on industrial workers but also include portraits of current workers, in particular those organizing for improved wages and benefits in service industries. Because Shadows of Industrialization focuses on Milwaukee, the portraits were taken in locations that speak to the region’s history — from Allis-Chalmers in West Allis, now primarily a shopping mall, to the rubble-strewn, empty parking lots of A.O. Smith in the central city.

 

Accompanying the portraits are audio clips of roughly 90 seconds each. In their own words, and with the power of their individual voice, the workers share their experiences and tell not just their story, but the broader story of Milwaukee.

Shadows of Industrialization stems from my long-standing attempt to understand the complexities of Milwaukee, a metropolis too often reduced to slogans such as "a great place on a great lake." I grew up in Milwaukee in the 1950s and 1960s, was gone for about 20 years, and returned to be with family and to raise my children. But it was not the city of my youth. Deindustrialization, the most significant change, had forever changed the city. 

 

We live in an era of uncertainty and the way forward is not clear. I think back to my interview with Anthony Rainey, who worked at Master Lock for 23 years and recently retired as a union rep for the United Automobile Workers. “We can’t make any advances alone,” he said. “But we can help each other make advances together. It takes time and it takes effort. Nothing worthwhile is easy.”