#post-industrial-communities

#post-industrial-communities

A look at how economic globalization has left its mark on former industrial cities and struggling small towns across America by photographer Matthew Ludak. Ludak received his BA from Drew University and MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His practice explores contemporary social issues, including classism, de-industrialization, environmentalism, and structural racism in the United States. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he continues to explore the intersections of art and social justice through his photography and non profit work.

For nearly a century, miners used canaries, small yellow-greenish songbirds known for their high metabolisms and rapid breathing, to detect toxic gases in the mines. When a canary showed signs of distress, it gave miners enough time to evacuate before succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. The songbirds were replaced by electronic gas detectors more than 40 years ago, but the saying "canary in a coal mine" is still a common metaphor for potential danger.