





Trained as an architect, Christopher Payne today practices as a photographer specializing in forgotten buildings and relics of industry. From mental hospitals and power substations to obsolete factories, Payne works the neglected corners of the American landscape. His Textiles series examines--you guessed it--the northeastern textile industry, which since the late 20th century has been decimated by overseas competition and the flood of cheap imports. "A century ago, there were more than 800 businesses related to textile manufacturing in Philadelphia alone," Rivka Galchen writes at the New York Times, "today there are around a hundred."
For the past several years, Payne traveled the northeast shooting both working mills like Woolrich in Pennsylvania and New England Shirt Co. in Massachusetts, and defunct factories that appear as though they closed mid-production. The ancient machinery and colorful yarn make for compelling, depressing imagery of an industry in freefall.
(via A Continuous Lean)
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