MARIEKE BERKELAAR
Industrial Disease

Factories close their doors. Industrial areas are emptying and the once glorious buildings are abandoned.

Via countless stairs I wander through the building without knowing exactly where I am. It's big, chaotic and the floor is littered with black grit. I feel small. Maybe even uncomfortable. As soon as the clouds disapair from the sun, the factory comes to live. It's starting to expand, it starts to moan. Loose roof panels make a deafening sound. Footsteps on the metal stairs? Or Is it the building that wants me to understand that I'm on forbidden territory?

Lockers full of safety helmets and gloves. The red lights in the control room is still burning. On the desk a cup of cold coffee. A pile of cigarettes gives away the place where the workers took their well deserved break. How are they doing now? Are they njoying their hopeless unemployment?

Author
Marieke Berkelaar is a photographer and graphic designer from Leerdam, the Netherlands. The combination of her photography and her passion for the past takes you back in time. In recent years, Marieke has mainly focused on capturing a piece of history; old and abandoned buildings. Places that give the impression that they have been abandoned from one moment to the next, who want to tell the stories of their time and where no one has been for years. She wants the viewer to wonder what happened. Wants them to unravel the how, what, and why behind the photo and feel the melancholy. She is ready to start the dialog.

Website
www.mariekeberkelaar.nl

Instagram
@secretstoyesterday

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