Cranes, NY Harbor, Dusk

The world as we know it seems to operate on two almost separate planes: one that is visible, which the majority of us interact with daily, and one that is nearly invisible; and increasingly relegated to the sidelines, comprising the networks and systems that we depend on to operate our lives. The series Cargo is an unveiling of the beautiful, almost imperceptible world of global container shipping. For two years, I photographed a port in NYC, and then I joined a voyage aboard a cargo ship for two weeks through the Panama Canal to South America in order to experience and show cargo shipping from the inside. There is a surreal charge to this mysterious network, which seems to have a life of its own. People function in service of its meticulous efficiency, and they are small in comparison to its heft. In these 4x5 long exposures, humans are nowhere to be found, leaving us to see the structured movements of a highly developed, intricate system, which gracefully serves our needs. There is b