Documentary

These photographs from the Lonaconing Silk Mill reveal the stillness of abandonment and the quiet persistence of what remains: spindles cloaked in dust, ledgers paused mid-page, and tools waiting for hands that never returned. Rather than presenting the mill as ruin, the portfolio preserves it as a living record, inviting viewers to experience history as something immediate, tactile, and profoundly human.

Statement of Intent
Stepping into the Lonaconing Silk Mill in western Maryland is akin to traveling back in time. In a way that is both wonderfully nostalgic and somewhat haunting, I have been struck by how well-preserved are the functional elements of the mill. The mill produced silk for fifty years, but was shuttered suddenly in 1957. From the throwing machinery and bobbins to paper tags and personal items, the systems remain very much as they were sixty years ago, perhaps due to a combination of simple, sturdy construction, sudden abandonment, and no subsequent intervention. The purpose of my portfolio is to show a moment in time frozen.

My Lonaconing Silk Mill portfolio was presented to a panel of judges for assessment on June 9, 2021, at The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, UK, where I was honored with Associateship—joyfully concluding a five-year project.