An unflinching portrait of America’s Rust Belt in the ‘80s
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by Jack D. Teemer
The Industrial Age in America kicked off following the Civil War as workers made their way through the northern Midwest, finding employment in industries like steel and mining in what is known as the Rust Belt. The manufacturing sector soared, peaking in 1953, and then heading into a decline from which it never recovered.
By the 1980s, the Rust Belt symbolised devastating economic loss and heralded the destruction of the urban working class. At that time, American photographer Jack D. Teemer (1948–1992) began traveling through cities including Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati, creating a cinematic portrait of a region that was deteriorating before his very eyes.
“I wanted to produce a body of work that reveals human values and relationships, largely through the innocence of children, in working-class urban neighbourhoods where people appear to live on the edge and who seem to have little control over their destiny,” Teemer once said. “While both disturbing and beautiful, I find this work reveals a duality between a chaotic and sometimes impoverished environment with that of a celebration, innocence, and love for life.”
Collected in the book, Rust Belt (Nazraeli Press), Teemer’s large format photographs chronicle these cities and their residents in crisp detail, creating works that are both environmental portraits and documentation of disappearing social traditions. Teemer’s vivid images document communities that have seen better days, yet continue to hope for a better future.
Although these photographs were exhibited alongside those of Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, and William Eggleston in the 1987 survey, American Independents: Eighteen Color Photographers, Teemer never received the recognition he deserved. “There’s sentimentalism in Teemer’s work that makes him stand out, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons he was overlooked,” says gallerist Joseph Bellows, who represents the photographer’s work.
Teemer’s work also embraced a humanist ethos at a time when the art world deemed documentary photography “unfashionable”. As institutions begin to shift their stance in response to the political forces shaping our world, Teemer’s photographs articulate an important chapter of American history that resonates today.
In 2019, acclaimed writer, photographer, and critic Teju Cole included one of Teemer’s images from this series in his first major curatorial project, Go Down Moses. Cole recognised in Teemer’s work a story of despair and hope that linked the present to the past within the larger tapestry of American life.
Speaking about the work, Teemer said: “It’s difficult to get something that will penetrate to other issues, which juxtaposes once-thriving manufacturing infrastructure with the tender intimacies of residential life.”
And yet Teemer did just that. Amid the vast landscapes, children play, adding a poignant sense of innocence amid the loss on display. “I’m interested in the children’s innocence, how they haven’t been biased by life, haven’t been limited yet by rules and prejudices, and in how they perceive others,” Teemer explained.
For Bellows, Teemer’s photographs remind him of home – of a childhood spent in Rochester, New York, the former manufacturing capital of the photography world. “It’s very nostalgic for anyone who came from a city shaped by heavy industry.”
Rust Belt is out now on Nazraeli Press.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
Redefining street photography in the 21st Century
A new exhibition celebrates the transformative art of street photography.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Exploring the impact of colonialism on Australia’s Indigenous communities
New exhibition, ‘Under a Southern Star: Identity and Environment in Australian Photography’ interrogates the use of photography as a tool of objectification and subjugation.
Written by: Miss Rosen
My sister disappeared when we were children. Years later, I retraced her footsteps
After a car crash that saw Magnum photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa hospitalised, his sister ran away from their home in South Africa. His new photobook, I Carry Her Photo With Me, documents his journey in search of her.
Written by: Lindokuhle Sobekwa
Inside New York City’s hedonistic 2000s skateboarding scene
New photobook, ‘Epicly Later’d’ is a lucid survey of the early naughties New York skate scene and its party culture.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Did we create a generation of prudes?
Has the crushing of ‘teen’ entertainment and our failure to represent the full breadth of adolescent experience produced generation Zzz? Emma Garland investigates.
Written by: Emma Garland
How to shoot the world’s most gruelling race
Photographer R. Perry Flowers documented the 2023 edition of the Winter Death Race and talked through the experience in Huck 81.
Written by: Josh Jones