Ian
Rogers is a Canadian
artist and designer.
He has participated
in numerous group
and solo exhibitions
since 1992, working
in a variety of media
including photography,
painting, performance,
and digital media.
While it is easy
to be awed by the
activity and power
evident in an industrial
space, the resonance
of that power is
amplified with the
passage of time after
the site is abandoned.
The workers are long
gone, the giant machineries
are still, encrusted
with calcification
and rust, the grease
pits have curdled,
and the cement floors
have cracked and
powdered... but the
sense of vastness
and magnitude remains,
made even more evocative
by the contrasting
stillness.
These photographs
are of an abandoned
Stelco steel finishing
plant in the Place
St. Henri neighbourhood
of Montréal,
Québec. At
its height, this
neighbourhood was
an important part
of the St. Lawrence
Seaway industrial
centre. At the time
these photographs
were taken, the plant
had stood empty for
20 years. |
