When photographer Dan Wetmore set out to capture the neighborhoods surrounding the abandoned steel mills of Pittsburgh, he was met at times with incredulity as some believe the area to be little more than an industrial wasteland. As a child living in Pittsburgh, Wetmore was drawn to the abandoned steel mills that remained from the city’s industrial growth in the early to mid-20th century, pouring over Becher monographs in search of photographs of furnaces and structures that spoke to his boyhood enchantment. As an adult, Wetmore ventured into the mill towns for his series Jubilee Kitchen I and II, unveiling moments of unexpected rebirth in the struggling neighborhoods shadowed by its industrial history.

After sustaining the city for decades, Pittsburgh’s mills fell into into disrepair when tensions between union workers and management came to a head and steel production relocated to other areas around the country in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result of this economic shift, the surrounding towns face an uphill battle towards rebuilding once thriving communities.

In Jubilee Kitchen, Wetmore paints an intimate portrait of the neglected area through small moments of tenderness that when pieced together, form a nuanced narrative where loss and renewal are inextricably bound. Lost toys, discarded family possessions, and the forgotten remains of a gutted animal each suggest the memory the abandoned mills that loom over the town, which quivers with the anticipation of new life.

Images © Dan Wetmore 2014