Friday
Wednesday
About the exhibit
"And The Iron Did Swim” is the first installment of Mary Barnett’s multiphased project that documents the closing and demolition of Chattanooga’s most prominent remaining industrial site, U.S. Pipe and Foundry plant.
As a site, the U.S. Pipe and Foundry, quite emblematically embodies Chattanooga's early economic boom and the city's socioeconomic interdependence on the iron industry, dating as far back as 1830.
While the broader project explores occupational folklore, social history, and the end of the industrial era, “And The Iron Did Swim” begins with a focus on the emerging absence of the industrial worker, and the meaning of endings conveyed through the act of demolition.
Barnett began taking this series of photographs a few months after production had ceased in 2006, through and beyond the last days of demolition in 2008. The images chosen for exhibition were selected based on stories shared by the workers Barnett interviewed. The collection of images captures the short after-life of the emptied warehouse spaces and machinery rooms, and the peculiar assortment of memorabilia that remained housed in the buildings just before the demolition.
The series also takes into account the exterior of the historical site and its relation to its natural and urban surroundings. Finally it explores the ironic aspects of demolition that physically and visually distort the place of memory and yet brings to the eye's attention a new fascinating array of images, of the graveyard machinery and industrial debris: images which appear to have a life of their own.
As a site, the U.S. Pipe and Foundry, quite emblematically embodies Chattanooga's early economic boom and the city's socioeconomic interdependence on the iron industry, dating as far back as 1830.
While the broader project explores occupational folklore, social history, and the end of the industrial era, “And The Iron Did Swim” begins with a focus on the emerging absence of the industrial worker, and the meaning of endings conveyed through the act of demolition.
Barnett began taking this series of photographs a few months after production had ceased in 2006, through and beyond the last days of demolition in 2008. The images chosen for exhibition were selected based on stories shared by the workers Barnett interviewed. The collection of images captures the short after-life of the emptied warehouse spaces and machinery rooms, and the peculiar assortment of memorabilia that remained housed in the buildings just before the demolition.
The series also takes into account the exterior of the historical site and its relation to its natural and urban surroundings. Finally it explores the ironic aspects of demolition that physically and visually distort the place of memory and yet brings to the eye's attention a new fascinating array of images, of the graveyard machinery and industrial debris: images which appear to have a life of their own.
Tuesday
Artistic Statement
To be a documentary artist is a combination of self-discipline and curiosity, a way for me to remain attentive to the competing factors that inform and shape my society; a way to imaginatively explore and improvise with the variables offered by each context. It is, ultimately, a way for me not to take things for granted. Telling another's story is a burden of patience and trust. One must live with the material, travel with the stories, and remain open to and confident with the trajectories that appear.
Attentive to multiple systems of value, my work aims to provoke social reflection and to generate aesthetic pleasure. The textures i see and use in various mediums to layer the story's context are of great interest to me. I see this aesthetic component as an important part of the documentary process, equal to its social and historical aspects: by providing a compelling vision of our shared history, documentary art deepens conscience remembrance.
Attentive to multiple systems of value, my work aims to provoke social reflection and to generate aesthetic pleasure. The textures i see and use in various mediums to layer the story's context are of great interest to me. I see this aesthetic component as an important part of the documentary process, equal to its social and historical aspects: by providing a compelling vision of our shared history, documentary art deepens conscience remembrance.
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