When I first saw this series by Mark Ludak, I couldn’t help but travel back in time and imagine what these industrial spaces were like when they were active.

I pictured in my mind the people who worked there, life in the past, and the abandonment in the present.

The photos are striking; the large, abandoned structures make me uneasy.

“In this work, I aim to explore the legacy of these empty industrial spaces and the profound impact that decades of a shifting global economy have had on both the physical landscape and the people who worked in these spaces.

My family’s story is like that of many others who came to the United States seeking a better life.

As immigrants arriving at the turn of the century, my great-grandparents and grandparents found work in the factories of Pennsylvania, in the steel mills, garment factories, sugar factories, meatpacking plants, and coal yards that were the lifeblood of their new home.

Their lives were about building a new identity, forging a place in a world that was foreign to them.

The factory floor became the foundation of their lives, where they found not only work but a sense of belonging in a new world.

For years, these spaces have been empty and quiet, victims of a global economy and a digitally interconnected world.

The mills and factories are shadows of what they once were, a most toxic legacy of once-thriving industries.

The communities that once depended on these industries now find themselves grappling with a world that has irrevocably changed.”