Arsaib

12Apr11

"In 1977 I shot this film in Milwaukee’s industrial valley. The valley divides the city – to the north is Milwaukee’s Black ghetto, to the south a Polish working class community. As a kid I played there, hopping freight trains and fishing in the Menomenee River. In 1977 the valley was beginning to die. Factories were moving out. The steel foundries were rusting. And the stock yard all but closed. I wanted to document its decay. Using friends, family, and three Volkswagens (red, blue, and green), I shot in March on brightly lit days creating 60 one-minute narratives. The film used was Ektachrome Commercial (Kodak 7252), a fine grain reversal stock." —James Benning