Some would see old subway cars abandoned in a recycling yard as nothing more than hulking chunks of metal waiting to be squashed flat as a pancake.
Not photographer Stephen Mallon.
Mallon, a critically-acclaimed photographer, finds history and beauty in old machines and captures that in his shots. A new exhibit of his work, “Machines of Interest: The Selected Works of Stephen Mallon” is now on display at the National Museum of Industrial History in South Bethlehem.
His work promises to make you look differently at industrial machines.
The exhibit features more than two dozen original prints from the New-York based photographer. You’ll see photos from the artist’s collection spanning life on the rails to deconstruction in the recycling yard to unique perspectives of human-made machines.
“Stephen’s crisp, detailed, and beautiful images are something to behold,” said Glenn Koehler, director of Marketing and Public Relations at NMIH in a prepared statement. “His eye for finding beauty in industrial landscapes and his diverse body of work will resonate with everyone from art enthusiasts to engineers to hobby photographers.”
Mallon is well known for his series “Next Stop Atlantic” featuring decommissioned NYC Subway cars as they are retired to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean as artificial reefs, as well as his series “Brace for Impact,” which chronicles the reclamation of the plane successfully landed in the waters of the Hudson River by Capt. “Sully” Sullenburger.
Mallon’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, and his work has been he subject of publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, New York Times, Vanity Fair, Wired, Stern, PetaPixel, Viral Forest, BuzzFeed, New York Magazine, and The Huffington Post. Mallon’s work has also been featured on CNN, CBS, MSNBC, and NPR.
The exhibit runs through March 7.
“Machines of Interest: The Selected Works of Stephen Mallon” is in included in regular museum admission. How much: Children six and younger, free; youth (7 to 17): $9; students: $9; veterans/educators/seniors (65 and older): $11; and adults (18 to 64): $12.
The museum, which opened in 2016 and is a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, was built out of Bethlehem Steel’s 1913 Electric Repair Shop and tells the story of the Industrial Revolution in America. It is currently operating on modified hours and procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For current hours and protocols please visit https://www.nmih.org/nmih-reopening/ for the most up-to-date information.
The National Museum of Industrial History is at 602 E. 2nd St., Bethlehem.
Info: https://www.nmih.org/machines-of-interest; or 610-694-6644 x 108.
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