U.S.S. Edgar Thomson Steel Works & Monongahela 2013

LaToya Ruby Frazier made this photograph, "U.S.S. Edgar Thomson Steel Works & Monongahela," with light and shadow, capturing a landscape of industry and its relationship with the environment. The tones are so specific; the way she coaxes so much texture from monochrome is amazing. You can almost feel the grit and weight of the steel and coal. Look how the light catches the edges of the train cars, each one a dark void, like a missing tooth in the landscape. The photograph reminds me of the Bechers, those German photographers who documented industrial structures with such precision. But Frazier adds something more, a sense of place and history. It's like she's saying, "This is what we built, and this is what it cost." Art reminds us that things are never just black and white, but shades of gray, full of complexity and contradiction.