I strayed quite a ways from my original idea with this set. I decided to focus on another timely and prevalent issue in our current society: outsourcing and the demise of the manufacturing industry in the United States. I was looking at many of the objects I own and nearly every single one says “Made in China,” “Made in Taiwan,” or some other distant place. One of the only things I found in my apartment that was “Made in U.S.A.” was a pair of scissors.
I began by going out to the Port of Milwaukee and capturing the shipping containers. This is the main entry for goods to enter into the Milwaukee area. Places like Wal-Mart capitalize on these cheap foreign goods to maximize profits with the illusion of doing a service to the community and saving the consumer money. The end result is the demise of small business and the manufacturing industry in the United States. I traveled around to industrial areas and found numerous abandoned buildings. One was actually proposed to be the future site of a Wal-Mart. The picture I have included of this site is that with the debris and waste on the gravel. This site was actually only about 5-10 miles away from an existing Wal-Mart. Other buildings were in the midst of being torn down.
The final two pictures in the set are sites for small retail and business establishments. In the second to last picture you can see there are three openings “For Lease” all right next door to each other. There is also no one coming in or out of the existing establishments. In the final picture, the entire bottom floor is empty and available.
The full set can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mms10/sets/72157605704673149/
No comments:
Post a Comment