Video summary
Christopher Payne, an architect by training who transitioned into photography, presents "Made in America" as the culmination of fifteen years of exploring the built environment and industrial processes across the United States. His work is deeply rooted in his architectural perspective, viewing factories not merely as workplaces but as complex structures that reveal the hidden stories behind everyday objects. Payne explains that his journey began accidentally when he sought a personal creative project after architecture school, leading him to document abandoned power stations and eventually expanding his focus to include textile mills, piano factories, and aerospace facilities. He emphasizes that while he is not formally trained as a photographer, his approach treats the industrial landscape with the same analytical rigor as an architect, aiming to peel back the layers of design and manufacturing to show where our lives are made.
A central theme of the exhibition is the contrast between the mundane nature of industrial work and the extraordinary beauty found within it, often achieved through Payne's unique photographic techniques. He frequently works alone, acting as editor, stylist, and photographer simultaneously to capture moments that might otherwise be missed due to strict factory schedules or safety restrictions. Payne employs powerful strobe lights to eliminate cluttered backgrounds and accentuate details like machined metal surfaces, while his compositional preferences often favor circular shapes and the inclusion of workers with tattoos who embody their craft. Whether photographing a massive jet engine in Ohio or a giant tire at Bridgestone, he strives to create images that convey scale and precision, often using high angles to flatten circular forms and remove his own presence from the frame so the viewer feels directly connected to the scene.
The exhibition also highlights the human element within mass production, showcasing how diverse groups of people collaborate towards common goals regardless of their background or skill level. Payne shares anecdotes about gaining access to highly restricted areas like submarine shipyards in Connecticut, where he had to rely on a single emotional image—a hatch resembling a Swiss watch—to tell the story of craftsmanship when direct filming was impossible. He contrasts the somber, monochromatic environments of traditional textile mills with vibrant moments, such as running pink yarn for paint rollers, and pairs old industrial sites with modern sustainable facilities in Georgia to illustrate the evolution of the industry. Through these pairings and specific images, such as the American flag being assembled by workers from all walks of life, Payne conveys a message of hope and community, suggesting that factories serve as democratic spaces where individuals unite to create something meaningful.
Ultimately, "Made in America" serves as an educational tool designed to make viewers appreciate the origins of their possessions and the dedication of the people who produce them. Payne notes that in an era of mass production and instant replacement, few people understand the intricate processes behind items like clothes, cars, or tools, and his work aims to restore that appreciation. He acknowledges that some projects remain unfinished due to budget constraints or fleeting opportunities, but he views these incomplete stories as part of a larger narrative that continues to evolve. By documenting everything from the 9/11 memorial lights to the testing of jet engines, Payne reinforces the idea that making things is not just about economic output but also about self-sufficiency, emotional connection, and the enduring spirit of American industry.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
Hi everyone.
>> Thank you all for coming. This is uh
made in America and
what you're seeing is
the culmination of like
15 years of work that I've been doing
around the country. um a combination of
what started as personal projects
that led to editorial commissions,
commercial commissions, and also work
that we made specifically for this show.
I'm trained as an architect,
and so the pictures you see are very
architectural.
Um, and I like to think that what I'm
photographing is just architecture
in a different place or at a different
scale. That's just how I see the world.
It's how I see the built environment.
Um,
I'm not trained as a photographer. I
kind of fell into it. And when I got out
of grad school, architecture grad
school, I don't know if any of you have
been to to school or grad school or
architecture school, but uh it feels
more like art school. And so when I got
out, I felt like I didn't know how to do
anything. I came to New York and
uh I was
needed to find something that I could
call my own, my own creative project.
And I stumbled on these old uh these old
power stations, these old substations
that that ran used to run the subway
system. And back then they were being uh
taken out of service and abandoned. And
I I looked inside and I said, you know,
this is amazing. They look like uh Dr.
Frankenstein's laboratory.
So I was for some reason I was able to
get access, a lot of access. And that
turned into my first book. And that was
going to be a book about of of
architectural drawings because drawings
for me were a way of understanding
something, of taking something apart and
putting it back together.
It was going to be a book of drawings,
maps, historic research, my writing, all
this stuff into like one big, you know,
thesis project. The problem was I
couldn't find a photographer to do it.
So, I took it on myself and uh and
that's how I became a photographer.
A couple of books later, um, and Made in
America kind of wasn't didn't start out
with me waking up one morning and say,
"I need a new project. What What should
we do?" Oh, let's do something called
Made in America. It started with
long-term personal projects like the
Steinway piano factory, uh, textile
mills, things that sort of interested me
in a way that I didn't really
understand, but I felt like I needed to
do it. Just like that first book, I
needed to find something that was
creative that I could call my own. In a
city of, you know, millions of people, I
was doing one thing that I could call my
own. And so that's kind of how this
happened. Um, and after a certain
certain point, you realize you're
looking at at your work and you realize,
well, there's a much bigger story here
than just one one place. You know, it's
not just something that's happening in
New York City or at the Steiningway
piano factory. It's really about this
country. And so
that's kind of how it happened. Um, and
I feel really fortunate to be here at
the Cooper Hewitt because this is a
design museum and
so much of our world is designed. You
know, our clothes are designed.
Everything we touch and feel is
designed. But there's also a lot of
design that happens in the making of
something and in the design of those
machines. So, uh, this show is an
attempt to kind of like peel back the
layers and to make people appreciate
where their things come from, um, and
what's happening in this country. And,
uh, um, you know, to give pause when you
when you buy something, you know, to
just sort of say, hm, you know, someone
made this, you know, that's the other
important thing is it's not just
machines, but as you'll see, it's it's
people.
This is a a picture that I made
specifically for this show. And in a lot
of these places I've been to, I'm given
months or even years of access where I
can come and go as I please, where the
project can develop in an organic way,
where I can try things out, make
mistakes, come back, redo it. Some
places I go to, I'm only given a day or
a few hours. Um, health care is a big
part of this country's economy, you
know, and for the show we I tried to
touch on all kinds of things, old and
new, handcrafted, automated things that
happen at big scale, things that happen
at small scale. One of the things that
was missing was, you know, healthcare.
And if you've ever been to a hospital
and you get a a scan, right, you go
inside one of these machines. It's a PET
scanner. So, I was given a day in
Wisconsin at GE. Um, and I like to start
with this image particularly because
it's circular and it sort of checks all
the boxes uh of what I think is the kind
of picture that I like to make. One that
has a strong composition, um, some
interesting colors, some interesting
shapes, but there's sort of, uh, the
moment, you know, there's this aha
moment of, oh, so that's how they do it.
And you have a person inside that, you
know, without them, you wouldn't know
what you're looking at. So the person
really creates the story. But in this
situation, I was only given a day and I
do a lot of research before I go to a
factory, right? First of all, I have to
get access. Will they let me in? And
that's the hardest part. But then I ask
them to send me pictures of things. I
watch videos. Uh, and no matter how much
research I do, the day I arrive and I
step into that factory onto the floor,
you never know what you're going to
find. it always changes and on that day
I was hoping to see one of these
machines much more complete
and yet it was not what I'd hoped for.
So you have to pivot very quickly in
these situations because factories are
always moving. So I I shoot I also shoot
a lot of architecture for architects.
The great thing about that is that
buildings don't move. And so you know
the thing you're really reckoning with
is maybe the schedule of of the day or
the the weather. you know, if you're
shooting a school, what time do the
students get out? But with a factory,
there's always things moving. And if you
like something in one place, it's not
going to be there for a long time. And
so, this is one of those rare examples
where I had to kind of pivot quickly and
create something that was different from
what I'd seen in all those pictures and
videos, something new, something fresh.
And um it's actually a composite of
several different images. And so because
a lot of times I'm working alone, I have
to do the work of, you know, an editor,
the photographer, an assistant, um, a
stylist. But things I always look for
are circular shapes, and especially
people with tattoos. You'll see a lot of
that. Um, people that seem to embody
what they do. And anytime I can get
someone working inside a machine,
literally embedded in their work, that's
another box to check. Um, but the
interesting thing about this is that it
was not what I expected. And by lighting
it a certain way, and I use lights to
take out the background. So, factories
are often very, very cluttered. And they
can be very, very bright, but the
lighting is bad. They're cluttered.
They're messy. They're dirty. And so by
using strobe lights, powerful strobe
lights, I can eliminate the background
and I can also accentuate
things like this that would not normally
be visible in average light. So by
lighting it a certain way, I was able to
show how this metal is machined and made
flat. And very soon all of this will be
covered over and never seen again. So
even though this was not what I
expected, it's my job as an artist to
kind of turn it around and to show
something that is, you know, ordinary
and make it extraordinary. And so I went
down to Mobile, Alabama eight times.
This is the kind of project that doesn't
happen now 10 years, you know, 10 years
later, budgets just don't allow this
kind of in-depth like, you know,
following one thing from start to
finish. The only problem was was that I
didn't get enough time on site.
So the pictures I made I felt weren't
good enough. So after that was done,
instead of giving up on it, I said, you
know, there are other places that make
planes and jet engines like GE and
Boeing. And so I went to those
factories. And you realize that these
projects, they don't have to end when
the piece comes out. It actually more
often than not, it's the start of
something much larger.
I love this picture because I'd already
shot smaller jet engines. And if you've
ever seen a jet engine up close, it is
like working sculpture. There are few
things that are more beautiful and
perfect as a jet engine. It just spins
and spins and spins, right? And you
wouldn't believe how precisely
engineered and crafted these things are
because they can't fail. Um, and they
heat up and they're just the the
stresses that are put on them. It's
incredible. And I don't really know a
whole lot about, you know, how they
work. I usually know just enough to ask
the right amount of questions to make it
seem like I know what's happening and
then that usually elicits like the right
response, you know. Um, but with
something like this, what I really
wanted was something big. I wanted to
photograph the biggest engine that they
make. So, I did that and I went to an
obscure place in Ohio where they test
these. But you never know, even though
you have access and someone's meeting
you there and
they're doing a lot of stuff, you never
ever know what is going to be happening
on site that day and where one of these
engines will be. It could be hanging
outside on a test stand and that might
not make for a great picture. But
luckily, we found one in here and they
moved it around and we light it. But
what does it need? What does it still
need? A person. Luckily, that day, one
of the mechanics was this was a a short
woman. Most of the people I see in these
factories are big dudes, right? And you
put a big person in front of something
and it makes that thing look smaller.
So, having her there emphasizes, you
know, the scale of this. It's an easy
thing to do, but it's often overlooked.
You know, usually you're so you're so
giddy in the moment that you're making
you you're there and you're making this
picture and everything's working out and
you just sort of accept what is given to
you. And my job is to never accept what
is just given to you. I'm always looking
for ways to sort of take something out.
Can we add this? Um how do you make it
better? Because in a place like this,
unlike Steinway or General Pencil, I
can't go back, you know, and once that
thing is moved and being tested, then
it's gone. And, you know, uh, like I
said, getting access is so hard, you
rarely get a second chance. I grew up in
Boston and if you've ever driven on
Route 95
past New London and Graten, Connecticut,
you cross over a river and if you look
to your right, you see a big shipyard.
It says General Dynamics. That's where
they make nuclear submarines. So, of
course, that is put on my bucket list
right away. Um, but as an individual
artist, I knew that I could never
they're never going to let me in there
as an artist. But General Dynamics owns
other shipyards. And so I did a story
for the New York Times in San Diego on a
commercial shipyard on container ships.
That was wellreceived. And so that
allowed me to get into electric boat in
new in uh in Grten, Connecticut to
photograph these submarines. That said,
95%
of what I saw at Electric Boat exists
only in my head.
You can't take your cell phone out.
They've got two people with you all the
time telling you what you can look at,
where you can go, deleting your photos.
And so at the end of it, you're kind of
left with like a lot of I was left with
a lot of pictures of things that you
don't know what you're looking at and
these black tubes, which is a submarine
is basically a giant cylinder with stuff
inside.
And it's just, you know, the submarine
by itself is is is not that exciting.
And I realized I needed something that
had some emotional value, something that
the viewer could connect with. And one
day they said, "Chris, you know, your
wish has been granted. We have a hatch."
[laughter]
So for a couple hours, I was able to
photograph a hatch in the machine shop.
Um,
and to me, the hatch represents
something that, you know, we all kind of
know what a hatch looks like. And this
one looks like also looks like a Swiss
watch.
And so the story that I was I'm trying
to tell, if you can't show how something
is literally made, what are you trying
to say? And for me it's usually
craftsmanship, complexity,
uh you know, the beauty of something
that is made. And here it looks like a
Swiss watch. And so I was able to tell
kind of the broader story of how
submarines are made with just one
picture, you know. And also, we can't
show 10 pictures of something in in a
show, but you don't need to. If you have
that one image, the viewer can fill in
the rest. So, I use that that picture on
the right to play the long game to get
into this.
Even though I had been working with
these guys for like over a year, you
still show up and they act like they
don't know you. It's so bizarre, right?
Because a a lot of times I will I will
grow very chummy with these people. I'll
text them. I'll say, "Hey, hey, what are
you running this week? Can you think you
can, you know, shift production and hook
me up?" That does not happen with the
Navy. Um, it's very, it's like they're
dying to tell you stuff, but they also
have to keep it very formal. Um, but
speaking of, of kind of like trying to
tell a bigger story without showing
something literally, we have this uh
tire picture here, one of my favorites.
And the wonderful thing about exhibits
is that you get to consider the
relationship of pictures together and
also you know sort of terminal views.
You know how do we end this this space
um in a way that you know might not be
as effective in just a white wall
gallery. This is a giant tire from
Bridgestone. It is a tire that's over 13
and 1/2 ft tall. It's the largest tire
that's made. It's used on mining trucks
in open pit mines. You will never see
one of these tires probably in your life
because you will never go to an open pit
mine. Um, and those trucks are the size
of a house. They carry 400 tons of of
ore. It's nuts, right? So, I I don't
know how I came up with this, but you
know, I'm probably looking at the big
Caterpillar trucks and knowing me, I'm
like, "Okay, well, where does that
what's that? Where's that made?" It's
like, "Oh, tires. Who doesn't love
tires, right? We all know what tires
are. And tires are made like waffles.
There's like a a waffle iron. They
inject this hot bulbous kind of rubbery
thing that's sort of shaped like a tire.
It's like a a giant blob of mixture and
it's all got the layers and stuff. They
close the lid, add steam and pressure
and heat and all that and out comes the
finished tire.
It's pretty simple. I thought when we
went to Bridgestone and they were the
only ones that got back to us, I said,
"I want to show the whole process. I
want to see the waffle iron." And they
said, "No way. It was as proprietary as
the submarine." I don't know why, but it
was. And so I'm going through this
amazing factory where everything like
like the planes exist kind of at this
scale which is just it's kind of
incomprehensible. You know, pianos and
pencils and footballs. That's all at
human scale. People are working at
tables. With giant tires, you have
machines that are even bigger. You can't
believe it. And as a photographer, it's
like being in a a toy store and you
can't buy anything, right? So, and the
other unfortunate thing is for this for
this story, it was for New York Times
kids section. And so, my job is to go
and show how a tire is made from start
to finish. It's hard to tell that story
when the middle has been edited out and
you can't photograph it. Fortunately, at
the end of the factory, they actually
work on these tires. They have to buff
them out. And there was a guy in there
working. We had about 30 minutes before
they kicked us out.
And I knew this was the shot. And so at
that point, I kind of have to go into
like production mode. I know what I
want. and you feel everything kind of
coming together in a beautiful way,
working towards a goal. Um, a lot of
times, and I did it over there with the
footballs, with the guy painting, I will
get high up on a ladder and I will shoot
down at an angle. And this does two
things. You can see a lot more. You can
see it in a way that you're not seeing
it at eye level. And it also tends to
flatten out the subject. And
particularly with circles, you don't
want to pull and exaggerate a circular
form. It's fine for buildings where you
can stretch things and make the building
look more dramatic and exciting than it
is. But a circle, if if you pull a
circle like a tire in your mind, you're
like, "That doesn't look right." And so
by getting high up, I can get more in
and I can also flatten it and kind of
see it a little more objectively as if
you're not aware that I took this
picture. you're just sort of there. My
job is to kind of remove my presence,
whether it's through the composition or
the lighting. I don't want you to think
like, oh, you know, like there was this,
you know, you you you sense how it was
done. I want to remove myself from that
so that you feel like you're there. So,
that is the web of paper. This is all
one web going through these rollers.
100,000 papers an hour.
And I'd made this picture before and the
New York Times ran it. they they printed
a whole section on the making of the
paper and it's a very beautiful kind of
abstract image because it's 30 seconds
long.
>> So, it's just sort of this wash of
color, but I wasn't happy with it. And
like I said, I never feel like I've done
enough. And the pressman sensed my
frustration and they said, "You want to
come back for Triple Drama?"
What's that? Right. Every week a woman
named Deerra would send me the the press
schedule and it said what's running.
Triple drama is when all the Broadway
theaters take out full page ads in the
fall. So every not only is it a big
section, but it is colorful. So a lot of
times I would see things running through
the press and it was really cool, but
maybe only half the the the sheet was
colorful. You never know what you never
know what you're going to get. And when
that press run is done that day in a few
hours, it is gone forever. There's no
way to redo it. So I was there ready and
waiting. And this is probably a 30
second exposure because the lighting was
so bad. It is so dirty. Everything on
these presses is coated in ink. Um, the
fact that they let me climb around this
thing like a jungle gym alone just kind
of blows my mind because one time my
strobe lights actually tripped the press
and would shut it off and these guys
couldn't figure it out what was going
on. You know, they have like lasers that
that you know if the if this paper is
moving back and forth like this, the
it's all off. So, they're very precise
machines even though you know they're
printing something that is now outdated,
but they're technological marvels. So my
strobes would shut this thing down and
they're all they're climbing around like
they're like what is going on? Like and
I'm sitting there just sort of, you
know, like this and I was hoping that it
wasn't my fault. And then they finally
figured it out and and the foreman comes
up and he says he says, "Uh, I think
your lights are stopping the press.
You might not want to do that."
And it was just this like it was so firm
but even and not in like a what are you
doing you idiot you know? So anyway I
came back for Triple Drama. I was there
I was ready. I was waiting. Set up my
camera 30 seconds getting all these
colors
and by adding a little bit of strobe by
running around. My camera's here and I'm
running around with my strobe light.
Pop, pop, pop. Run back. You know, uh,
not good enough. You know, I was able to
capture bits and pieces of the shows
that were happening at that time. So,
for a lot of these pictures, there are
multiple variations of the same thing,
different lighting, but it's the same
thing. You know, if I lost this negative
here that's on 4x5 film, I probably have
another one that's just like it with
that this particular image. There's only
one of this.
So, um, that was a happy conclusion, but
like I said, a place like that, it still
nags at me that I didn't get, you know,
everything I wanted. Another thing that
has always nagged at me and Susan is
that um, the textile mills that I was
photographing. So, this is something
that I got into kind of when I was doing
Steinway and I grew up in New England
and in in the sort of the the shadow of
the former textile region where every
town had a textile mill. Um, and I found
these old mills that were very
reminiscent of what had taken place in
the 19th century. And so I would talk to
people who had worked in the mills,
their parents, their grandparents, and
you're talking to them and you're
looking into their eyes and you were
seeing back in time into the 19th
century. And it was amazing. But I knew
with my pictures, you can't recreate the
past.
So that's something, you know, a lot of
these projects, they have a completion.
It's published. I feel good about it. A
lot of things I just sort of have to let
go. This is one picture that I was
really lucky to get. It's a It's a This
is um they're making yarn and this is
pink wool that's going to be used for uh
paint rollers that you'd buy at Lowe's.
>> Paint rollers at at Lowe's.
>> And the owner calls me up one day and
I'd been there a few times and I had
this picture in different colors.
Usually they're running black, white or
gray. most mills are running
monochromatic colors and they're very
somber and dreary. These environments
are not photogenic. And he said, "You
should come up today. We're running
pink." It was kind of like the way the
guy said with the with the hatch, "You
need to come up today." I had a
beautiful parking spot outside my my
apartment. I lived in a little
storefront and it was the kind of
parking spot that you look at and you
just sort of admire it and you see other
people driving by and you know they wish
they had that spot. Um, and I didn't
want to give it up.
>> [laughter]
>> But I decided, you know what? I will
drive three and a half hours because he
knows what he's talking about. And I was
able to make this shot. And this is a
very, you know, old traditional process.
Years later, I was able to sort of
bookend it with this modern mill in
Georgia where they're making carpet uh
in a very sort of um uh u
environmentally sustainable and
forwardthinking way where they infuse
the back of the carpet with carbon
dioxide. And so even though I don't have
all the hundreds of pictures that I
wanted to make, all the pictures that
Susan and I wanted to show, in this way
we can tell the story of the textile
industry, the old and the new, by
pairing them side to side and let the
viewer kind of, you know, fill in the
rest. Um,
so and with a guy like that, you know,
once again, he's embedded in in the
picture. He embodies what he he he he he
does. And I remember when I found this
when I found him
and I'm making the picture, you know, I
I mentioned things coming together in a
way that is like you feel like you're
there's just this momentum. And I
remember after making this picture, I
was actually very sad because I knew
that I would not reach that creative
high again. You know, people ask me, why
do I do this? Like why are you
photographing this stuff? And it's
because everything around us is made in
a factory. our clothes, everything we
touch except this mansion here. We
happen to be in this building that is
like definitely one of a kind. But
basically everything in in our world now
is made in a factory. It's based on mass
production, um repetition, precision,
the ability to swap one thing out for
another. You know, if if something
breaks, you just buy another one. It
didn't used to be like that. And not
many people appreciate, you know, where
their stuff comes from. So, one of the
purposes of this show is to to make
people appreciate, you know, where the
shirt on their back is made. Um, and
also the beauty uh the
the idea of making stuff and how it
makes us feel. And I was just down at
the I was down at the 911 site
photographing the the tribute and lights
for the 25th anniversary. And every year
these guys come out and and they they
store the lights in a in a in a a big
container and they wheel them all out.
And a lot of the people who come back
there have been doing this for years.
And I realized that, you know, a lot of
times it's not it's it is about making
something and feeling good about
yourself and this idea of
self-sufficiency, but it's also about
the sense of community that when you
make things that that that you know that
that the sense of community that
develops around sort of a common goal.
And I always look at this the picture of
the American flag um when I when I
discuss this because that was a very
moving factory to go to um where you see
the American flag coming together and
even in its sort of you know most
minimal state you know what it is going
to become and it's very moving and when
the flags are finished they actually
don't touch the floor they hang them up
>> and I think that was a good we wanted to
include that image because it kind of
symbolizes to me what uh factories are
and they are to me they're places of
democracy where people of all walks of
life come together to work towards a
common goal and so I've seen young and
old um immigrants
uh nativeborn um people who are very
skilled people who are unskilled all
working side by side towards a common
goal and this day and age um of
partisanship
uh it gives me a sense of Hope. Thank
you.
[applause]