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Along the ancient path
of the Monongahela River,

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Braddock, Pennsylvania sits
in the eastern region of Allegheny County,

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approximately nine miles
outside of Pittsburgh.

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An industrial suburb,

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Braddock is home
to Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill,

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the Edgar Thomson Works.

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Operating since 1875,

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it is the last functioning
steel mill in the region.

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For 12 years, I have produced
collaborative portraits,

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still lifes, landscapes and aerial views

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in order to build a visual archive
to address the intersection

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of the steel industry,

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the environment,

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and the health care system's impact
on the bodies of my family and community.

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The tradition and grand
narrative of Braddock

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is mostly comprised of stories
of industrialists and trade unions.

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Currently, the new narrative
about Braddock,

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a poster child for Rust Belt
revitalization,

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is a story of urban pioneers
discovering a new frontier.

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Mass media has omitted the fact
that Braddock is predominantly black.

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Our existence has been co-opted,
silenced and erased.

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Fourth generation in a lineage of women,

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I was raised under the protection
and care of Grandma Ruby,

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off 8th Street
at 805 Washington Avenue.

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She worked as a manager for Goodwill.

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Mom was a nurse's aid.

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She watched the steel mills close
and white flight to suburban developments.

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By the time my generation
walked the streets,

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disinvestment at the local,
state and federal level,

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eroded infrastructure,

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and the War on Drugs
dismantled my family and community.

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Grandma Ruby's stepfather Gramps

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was one of few black men to retire
from Carnegie's mill with his pension.

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He worked in high temperatures,

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tearing down and rebuilding furnaces,
cleaning up spilt metal and slag.

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The history of a place is written
on the body and the landscape.

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Areas of heavy truck traffic,

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exposure to benzene and atomized metals,

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risk cancer and lupus.

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One hundred twenty-three licensed beds,
652 employees,

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rehabilitation programs decimated.

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A housing discrimination lawsuit
against Allegheny County

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removed where the projects
Talbot Towers once stood.

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Recent rezoning for more light industry
has since appeared.

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Google Maps and Google Earth pixelations
conceal the flammable waste

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being used to squeeze the Bunn family
off their home and land.

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In 2013, I chartered a helicopter

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with my cameras to document
this aggressive dispossession.

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In flight, my observation reveals
thousands of plastic white bundles

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owned by a conservation industry

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that claims it's eco-friendly

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and recycles millions of tires

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to preserve people's lives

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and to improve people's lives.

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My work spirals from the micro
to the macro level,

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excavating hidden histories.

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Recently, at the Seattle Art Museum,

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Isaac Bunn and I mounted this exhibition,

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and the exhibition was used
as a platform to launch his voice.

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Through reclamation of our narrative,

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we will continue to fight historic erasure
and socioeconomic inequality.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)