Book Review: Steel Town by Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore, image from Steel Town (MACK, 2021). Courtesy the artist and MACK.
Written by: Demetra Nikolakakis
Sombre yet touching, Stephen Shore’s Steel Town depicts the communities impacted by the widespread layoffs of steelworkers in the mid to late 1970s. Particularly in smaller towns, entire communities were devastated—other businesses faced low patronage or closed altogether, storefronts were boarded up—a painful domino effect leaving financial ruin in its wake.
This new book—featuring photographs originally commissioned by Fortune Magazine in the 1970s—is published by MACK. An introductory essay by Helen Epstein explains the difficulties faced by steelworkers at at the time of the layoffs before launching into an explanation about how blue-collar workers, once reliably Democratic voters, felt ignored as the party’s base began to diversify and focus less intensely on labor issues. Support for the Democrats began to dwindle over time in the region, which largely supported Republican candidates in the 2020 general elections. Though Epstein traces throughlines between the steelworkers and Trump’s eventual supporters, Shore’s photographs evoke little but sympathy for communities down on their luck, a humanizing depiction of the calm before the storm.
Stephen Shore, image from Steel Town (MACK, 2021). Courtesy the artist and MACK.
Though Steel Town captures small towns in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, it is impossible to differentiate one locale from another. They all seem doomed to the same economic downfall. They also share an eerie sense of abandonment, particularly in the photographs of the town itself. Shore captures downtown streets with colorful signs, diners, and various storefronts, yet each shot is overwhelmingly empty, as though it depicts a ghost town. Still, although some buildings may need minor renovations, the towns’ overall infrastructure seems to be in relatively good condition. It quickly becomes apparent that the financial destruction happened both swiftly and recently, communities going from prosperous to struggling almost overnight.
Stephen Shore, image from Steel Town (MACK, 2021). Courtesy the artist and MACK.
While the residents of the towns appear in few of Shore’s pictures, their expressions almost always betray a sense of loss. Whether they’re deep in conversation or even smiling, a quiet resignation, an acknowledgement of something irretrievably slipping away, seems to be weighing on them. The few happy individuals in Steel Town are photographed within their homes, typically with family members or friends. Whether lined with yellow paneling or red brick, the homes seem to be a refuge, a lone remaining glimmer of idealized suburbia.
Stephen Shore, image from Steel Town (MACK, 2021). Courtesy the artist and MACK.
In stark contrast with the cozy houses, Steel Town ends with a barrage of pictures that depict the former industrial workplaces. Pipes, wires, and support beams tangle in a mess of grey, factories loom over fields of weeds, mounds of rubble engulf a barren tree. Though the focus of the photobook is how steel companies’ lay-offs affected the local economy, it becomes apparent that they were equally guilty of reshaping and damaging the local environment. Those final pictures complicate the sympathy built up in earlier pages—though the local residents do not deserve their unfortunate position, the factories caused damage. Even if cost and feasibility issues were overlooked, reopening them would be far from a perfect fix.
Stephen Shore, image from Steel Town (MACK, 2021). Courtesy the artist and MACK.
Ultimately, throughout Steel Town, Shore portrays the situation as complex—a zero-sum game. Though the photographs are far from optimistic, they are incredibly powerful, evoking a deep sympathy for the residents trapped in towns of economic decay.
Steel Town is available for purchase on MACK’s website.
