Tag Archives: France

Among Former Coal Mines in France and Belgium

Earlier this summer, I returned to France to continue working on my Hauts-de-France Mining Basin project and to present at a conference about resilience strategies. While there, I photographed throughout the region, including at high-profile coal mine redevelopment sites. Among those I visited are the 51N4E-designed C-Mine complex and Koen Vanmechelen’s Labiomista in Genk, Belgium, as well as the SANAA-designed Louvre Lens in Lens, France. Several of these photographs from the broader mining basin and former mines are below.

Basketball and Power Plants

Bumper Cars

Coal Car Coal Car
Coal Car Coal Car

Burned Car in Valenciennes

Street, Terril

In Lens

COAL MINE REDEVELOPMENT SITES
C-Mine (Genk, Belgium)

C-Mine Winding Tower and Labyrinth

C-Mine Expedition

Thor Park (Genk, Belgium)

Thor Park Thor Park

Koen Vanmechelen’s Labiomista (Genk, Belgium)

Koen Vanmechelen's Labiomista Koen Vanmechelen's Labiomista

Koen Vanmechelen's Labiomista

9-9 Bis (Oignies, France)

Métaphone

9-9 Bis

Mine, Terril du 11/19 (Loos-en-Gohelle, France)

Mine, Terril du 11/19

Noyelles-sous-Lens Terril (Lens, France)

Riding on the Terril

Louvre-Lens Museum (Lens, France)
Louvre-Lens Museum

Louvre-Lens Museum's The Galerie du Temps

Old Projects, New Phases

After years of steadily developing several long-term projects, 2018 was the year many of them dramatically changed. The Area is out in the world; my Hauts-de-France work is exhibiting; so many other projects are evolving. With those big changes in mind, here’s a recap of my work on major projects in 2018, a few highlights from smaller projects, and a little looking ahead to 2019.

The Area Film

After six years of work, The Area is screening. Since premiering at the Full Frame Film Festival in April and making its Chicago premiere at the Black Harvest Film Festival in August, we’ve been busy screening the film with an amazing set of partners, including the Metropolitan Planning Council, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the National Public Housing Museum, universities, community organizing groups, and the Gene Siskel Film Center. To learn more about screenings, news, and requesting a screening, visit The Area’s website.

At the Black Harvest Film Festival

Black Harvest Film Festival Black Harvest Film Festival
Full Frame Film Festival Black Harvest Film Festival

Hauts-de-France Mining Basin and the Resilient Images Residency

Following a preview at Expo Chicago and multiple exhibitions in France in 2017, my Resilient Images work had its full exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center in 2018. In June, a subset of the project returned to France for exhibition during the national urban planning conference RDV avec la Ville. I made some new work during the June visit, so I’m not quite ready to call the project complete, but I’m pleased with it and where it’s going.

Installation of Hauts-de-France Mining Basin

Cité Werth à Denain

Bean Creek in Indianapolis, Indiana

Over the last few years, I’ve been steadily developing a project in Indianapolis with support from Big Car. I tightened the work in 2018 by emphasizing how the south side neighborhood has evolved with small creek that winds through the community. The first exhibition from that residency will appear at the Tube Factory Art Space next year. The show focuses on the relationship between people and place, and puts the Bean Creek work in dialogue with my projects in The Area and Hauts-de-France. More information about the exhibition is on facebook.

Bean Creek

With a Stray Dog Strike Fear or Get Struck

Urban Farming in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The national placemaking project Michael Carriere and I started back in 2009 is shifting from research to public engagement, with a second exhibition prepared and the book moving towards publication. In January, our exhibition Growing Place: A Visual Study of Urban Farming is opening at the Grohmann Art Museum, which situates Milwaukee’s contemporary urban farming movement in its history, drawing from archival photographs, documents, and contemporary artifacts. I’m especially excited about the programing we’re scheduling, including events with the Walnut Way Conservation Corps, Will Allen, and others. More details forthcoming!

Urban Farm Aerial

Hmong Farmer at Fondy Market

Belfast, Northern Ireland

As I wrote earlier in the year, I made my fourth visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland in July to continue documenting the changing experience of Eleventh Night and The Twelfth. Among the new work I made this year was an aerial sub-project about the aftermath of the bonfires, which helps orient the work away from the specific moment of the events.

Burning the Children's Bonfire

Bonfire Aftermath from Above

Rebuilding in Tōhoku, Japan

Last week I returned from Tōhoku, Japan, where I continued my work on the rebuilding process after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. I’ll be sharing more photographs in the next few weeks, but here are two favorite rephotography sequences and a building happily back in use in Ishinomaki. The rebuilding process is somehow overwhelmingly fast and slow.

2014, 2016, 2018

2014, 2016, 2018

Two Buildings

SKETCHES FROM ELSEWHERE

Camden, New Jersey

In Camden, New Jersey

Camden, New Jersey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chicago, Illinois Region

Valentines in Whiting, Indiana

Iced Tree on Lake Michigan

Dublin, Ireland

The Gasworks

Ely, Minnesota

Ely

New Orleans, Louisiana

Ashton Theater

Paris, France Region

Les Espaces d'Abraxas

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Pool at the Row House

Reykjavik, Iceland Region

Icelandic Geothermal Pool

Hallgrimskirkja

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Camera Shop

San Diego, California Region

Solana Beach Transit Center

San Diego County Fair

Seattle, Washington

Oxbow Park

Olive Tower

St. Louis, Missouri

IMG_4606_7

Stockholm, Sweden

IMG_0925

Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo from Above

Isolated Tokyo

To 2019!

The Terrils of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin

Rising over the towns of the UNESCO-listed Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin are terrils, or spoil tips, human-made hills of mining debris more than 450 feet tall. During my recent trip to France to screen The Area and participate in RDV avec la Ville, I expanded my Hauts-de-France Mining Basin series with aerial images that highlight their context. The following images are a few of my favorites.

DJI_0455

DJI_0525

DJI_0434

DJI_0384

DJI_0578

DJI_0410

DJI_0216

The 2017 Triangle

The shuttered Hornaing, France coal-fired power plant.

After a string of years bouncing around the map, in 2017 I mainly traced the triangle between Minneapolis, Chicago, and France.

I spent most of my time teaching at St. Olaf and wrapping up The Area in Chicago, but I dedicated nearly two months to two different French projects. In January, I continued my “Resilient Images” residency in Hauts-de-France interpreting the character and identity of France’s former mining region. In August, I worked on a cultural heritage project in Paris, Hauts-de-France, and Normandy with Atout France. The next month, I returned to Hauts-de-France for talks, photography, and to open the residency show at the Centre régional de la photographie Hauts-de-France.

Back in the States, I showed a preview of my Resilient Images project at EXPO Chicago with the Hyde Park Art Center and then exhibited photographs from the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation at the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the National Public Housing Museum.

I did make time for a little other travel. I visited New York City twice with The Area to participate in the IFP Filmmaker Labs and briefly visited to southern California and central Indiana. At the end of the year I hopped back to Europe to hail the new year in Scandinavia. A good year.

I’m starting 2018 with the American debut of Hauts-de-France Mining Basin at the Hyde Park Art Center and “Urban Art and the Block: Film Screening of Selections from The Area.” In other projects, my book with Michael Carriere is closing in on a complete draft, and The Area should also be premiering soon — more about that shortly. Check the website or follow me on Twitter or Facebook for updates.

And now a few of my favorite photographs from 2017. Thanks for your interest, and Happy New Year!

Hauts-de-France Mining Basin and the Resilient Images Residency

With Terril

Flipping in the Former Coal Mine

Coal Car

See more from Hauts-de-France Mining Basin in my photography section of the website.

The Area Film

Review Screening of The Area at IFP in New York

Screening scenes from The Area at IFP’s Made in NY Media Center.

In the Area

Visit The Area‘s website for more information about the film.

Roubaix, France

Centre social Pile Sainte Elisabeth

Le Havre, France

Auguste Perret's St. Joseph's Church

Read more about Le Havre and Auguste Perret’s St. Joseph’s Church elsewhere on the blog.

Chicago, Illinois

On the South Side

Princeton, Minnesota

Teen Center

New York City, New York

On the Street

Solana Beach, California

And, Finally, By Moonlight

Jolietville, Indiana

A-Frame in Winter

Oslo, Norway

Frogner Apartments

Norefjell, Norway

Noresund Church

On Norefjell Mountain

Copenhagen, Denmark

Grundtvig's Church by Peder Vilhelm Jensen Klint

Grundtvig's Church by Peder Vilhelm Jensen Klint Grundtvig's Church by Peder Vilhelm Jensen Klint

New Years in Copenhagen

Modernism and a 500 Year Anniversary in Le Havre, France

Auguste Perret's Modernist Development
Mixed-use buildings with residential towers overlooking Place Auguste Perret

A modernist city designed by Le Corbusier’s mentor, Auguste Perret, sits on the coast of Normandy. Le Havre’s concrete origins date to September 1944, when the British bombed the German-occupied city’s coastal plain. The assault almost completely destroyed the district and killed more than 5,000 people.


Le Havre in January 1945
The commercial core of Le Havre in January 1945
(Image source: stitched panorama from the UNESCO Nomination, “Le Havre, the city rebuilt by Auguste Perret.”)

Rather than abandon the port city, the French government began planning for its reconstruction after liberation. From 1945 until 1964, the city’s core was totally reworked by a team assembled by Perret, yielding the singular city seen today. As with many modernist and brutalist developments, Le Havre fell out of favor towards the end of the 20th century before finding admirers in recent years. Perhaps the pinnacle of this recognition is the listing of the urban core as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2005. The designation recognizes the modernist area, with its standouts like Perret’s own Église Saint-Joseph and later structures like Oscar Niemeyer’s spectacular Maison de la Culture.

Now the city celebrates its concrete past and present, but this year it is also commemorating its 500th anniversary with more than a dozen art and architectural works installed as part of “A Summer in Le Havre.”

Earlier this month, I made a two-day visit to the city on behalf of Atout France and used my free time to visit some of the essential buildings of the reconstruction and the anniversary installations. I will publish additional images from the visit later, but these photographs are among my favorites.


Auguste Perret's St. Joseph's Church
Auguste Perret’s Église Saint-Joseph

Auguste Perret's St. Joseph's Church
Auguste Perret’s Église Saint-Joseph interior with Chiharu Shiota’s Accumulation of Power

Oscar Niemeyer's Maison de la Culture du Havre (Le Vulcan)
Oscar Niemeyer’s Maison de la Culture du Havre, now called “Le Vulcan”

Bibliothèque Oscar Niemeyer
Bibliothèque Oscar Niemeyer, originally the smaller theater from the Maison de la Culture du Havre complex

Oscar Niemeyer, Renovation by Sogno Architecture
Interior of Bibliothèque Oscar Niemeyer, renovation by Sogno Architecture

Auguste Perret's Le Havre City Hall Auguste Perret's Modernist Development
The Le Havre city hall tower and a mixed-use building with the Saturday market in the foreground

Auguste Perret's Apartment Building
Interior of a residential tower model apartment with period furniture

Auguste Perret's Modernist Development
Looking south down Rue de Paris towards Vincent Ganivet’s Catène de Containers

Vincent Ganivet's Shipping Container Sculpture
Vincent Ganivet’s Catène de Containers

Lang and Baumann's La Porte Océane
Lang and Baumann’s UP#3, La Porte Océane

In Her Cabana
A resident in her cabana with Karel Martens’ Colors on the Beach

In Their Cabana
In their cabana with Karel Martens’ Colors on the Beach

Le Havre Skate Park
The Le Havre Skate Park

Special thanks go to Eric Baudet and Atout France.

2016 in Review: Nearly As Much There As Here

2016 was another year of travel, but unlike previous years, my explorations were more international than domestic: for more than two months I made work in Belgium, Ethiopia, France, Ireland, Japan, Northern Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates.

One month of that period was for a residency in the North of France and Belgium. The residency, “Resilient Images,” is a joint program launched by the Hyde Park Art Center and the Centre régional de la photographie Nord—Pas-de-Calais and supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the French Embassy, and Institut Français. I will be writing more about my project in a few months, but if you’re interested in learning a little more about what I’m doing in the North, you can read a little more about it in this short interview. The rest of the summer, I continued my project about Eleventh Night and the Twelfth in Belfast, photographed in Tōhoku and showed photographs at Gallery Tanto Tempo in Japan, toured Ethiopia with friends, and visited with guest workers in Dubai.

But I also did some domestic travel, including for a show in Buffalo, New York at Dennis Maher’s incomparable Fargo House and a screening of scenes from The Area at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Mobile Design Box in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I also made brief visits to the area around Louisville, Kentucky and New Orleans, Louisiana. Of course, I spent plenty of time in Chicago, Illinois and Minneapolis, Minnesota, which finally feels like home.

The other big project news is that after nearly five years, The Area is swiftly moving towards completion with Scrappers Film Group after a party and fundraiser in December. “Thank you,” everyone who attended and contributed!

I can’t possibly do justice to the places I visited in this short post, but I’ve included links to locations for which I made blog posts, and posted a few photographs from each site. If I authored a blog post about a particular visit, the section title is a link to the post.

To 2017! It’s going to be a busy one, isn’t it?

Resilient Images Residency in Hauts-de-France, France

Watching, Power Plant
Residents calling for their dog from their street.

Gathering to Depart
ATV riders gather to move from one part of a slag heap to another.


Coal cars displayed in former mining towns.

Belgium

Playing Soccer in Molenbeek
Young immigrants play soccer in Brussels’ Molenbeek neighborhood.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Igniting the Children's Bonfire
Shankill neighborhood residents ignite their children’s bonfire.

Tōhoku, Japan

CU9I4862 Update
Post-tsunami and radiation contamination remediation in downtown Tomioka.

The “Jungle,” Calais, France

CU9I9467
The formal and informal Calais “Jungle” camps before demolition.

Ethiopia

IMG_5846
Two boys look down to their village in rural Tigray.

CU9I8533 CU9I8127c
A minibus stop and an outdoor pool hall in Addis Ababa.

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The Church of St. George in Lalibela.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

CU9l6493_87
Scrappers remove kitchen counters from a partially demolished house.

Trucks
A small sample of the variety of modified truck designs in sand parking lots.

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Two Pakistani guest workers and the largest Tim Horton’s advertisement I’ve ever seen.

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo Telescope Houses
Six new telescope house photographs I made while visiting for my exhibition.

Chicago, Illinois

IMG_8928
The beginning of the Scrappers Film Group party and fundraiser for The Area at Lost Arts.

Leaning
A leaning, isolated building near the former United States Steel South Works site.

Louisville, Kentucky

Overlooking the Ohio River
Overlooking the Ohio River and Louisville, Kentucky from Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

IMG_3585
A major clean-up effort in a North Side neighborhood.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

CU9I7320
The Minnehaha Free Space before it was displaced by a new landlord.

IMG_7796
A former entry area of the Minneapolis Scottish Rite Temple.

New Orleans, Louisiana

IMG_8271c
Four teenagers posing outside a corner store in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Rural Minnesota

National Farmer's Bank of Owatonna
Louis Sullivan’s National Farmer's Bank of Owatonna.

Rural Wisconsin

Woodside Place
A former church in St. Croix.