“Faces of the Mill” was created for the class “Visual Narratives of Lewiston” at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in May, 2013. After participating in a tour of the Bates Mills 1 and 2 I was inspired by the vast layout of the now mostly barren space. I was intrigued after hearing the history of the mills and learning that they provided jobs for thousands of Lewiston residents. Today there remains a single company, Maine Heritage Weavers, that employs one woman to operate the looms. Spaces that once ran three shifts a day providing textile and weaving jobs for thousands of people now have one woman still running looms. Several months from now Maine Heritage Weavers will move the last of their remaining textile looms to Monmouth, Maine, signaling the end of an era and the progress of change. My hope of this project is that through these portraits one will feel the weight, history, and connection these emptying spaces hold to the ones who worked there. In the short time-frame of this project, I sought out people who held the historic function of these mills close to their hearts. This search brought me to Norm, an 82 year old, former National Guard Sergeant and worker in the mills in the 1950’s and Dot, the last remaining loom worker in Lewiston. The stark contrast and singularity of Norm’s and Dot’s presence in these industrial fields evokes a sense of eeriness but will hopefully honor the change these locations are a part of. It was my goal to capture these massive locations in the state they are today while retaining the history, presence, and human interaction that has been the source of the mills’ energy. For both Norm and Dot these Mills are more than a massive space laden with old machinery, remnants of the past, and visions to the future; they are places that bring great pride and awe. The mills have been and still are a part of their lives, just as they have been for thousands of others throughout the mills’ century and a half history.
