This body of work is inspired by my studio residency at the UnSmoke Systems Artspace in Braddock, PA. Located directly across the street from the US Steel Edgar Thompson Works, Unsmoke Systems is housed in a re-purposed, previously abandoned Catholic elementary school.

On July 19, 2008, this series was featured in a collaborative event between the Carnegie Museum of Art 2008 Carnegie International and the Mayor's Office of Braddock entitled "Out of this Furnace".

Out of This Furnace, which opened to the public in the newly renovated Unsmoke Systems building, took its title from the book of the same name by Thomas Bell that narrates the history—through the stories of four generations of immigrants—of this former industrial town, which collapsed along with the steel industry in the early 1980s. The exhibition, like the space, celebrates the revitalization of the town through arts and culture. Heather Pesanti, assistant curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art and organizer of the exhibition, asked Out of This Furnace artists to create work in reaction to Braddock’s history.

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