Steel Work City
Rikard Laving
Journal
English and Swedish
Hardcover
104 pages
210 x 260 mm
2012
ISBN 9189197887670
Through muted colours and sombre depictions, photographer Rikard Laving documents scenes, structures and inhabitants in Oxelösund, a Swedish town dominated by a massive steel works run by SSAB. Schools, homes, landscapes, public buildings and of course the steel works themselves are all washed in a cold and lifeless light. Class portraits of school children and teams of mill workers are shown in static groupings against neutral white backgrounds. Buildings are uninspiring and emotionless. It is an overall bleak impression of life in a small steel town.
