My photography is an outgrowth of my involvement in Architectural History and Industrial Archaeology. The subject matter I seek out includes industrial buildings and engineering structures, their place in the landscape and their interiors. I am professionally involved in recording the history of these places, but I am also personally captivated by their appearance and feeling. For the last few years, I have been concentrating on documenting the character, structure, spaces and surviving machinery of Rhode Island’s textile mills and other industrial buildings that are changing—even if for the better—as part of the wave of rehabilitations made possible by the Federal and State Rehabilitation Tax Credit programs. Whenever I can, I try to find the time to photograph industrial buildings and sites before demolition—or restoration—changes their character. My photography combines traditional and current technology, with images captured with a 4 X 5 large-format black-and-white film view camera and digital prints made from scanned negatives.
Matt Kierstead
Pawtucket, RI 2009
Contact: matthew.a.kierstead@gmail.com