My project is about time, memory and economic life made visible through absence.

I document how a place evolves—not through headline events, but through what disappears, reappears and lingers.

In North Adams, a small post-industrial town in northeastern Massachusetts, energy and stillness exist side by side. Cultural institutions such as Mass MoCA draw activity and attention, while nearby storefronts remain mostly empty, cycling between use and prolonged vacancy. Over fifteen years of returning to and photographing these spaces, I have come to see not a narrative of steady change, but one of persistent sameness. Time passes but the visual and economic conditions remain largely unchanged. While the images are absent of people, they are shaped by human presence. These vacant spaces reflect the experiences of those who live around them: diminished activity, reduced opportunities and a sense of suspension. The repetition of vacancy becomes not just a visual motif, but a social one.

Linda Kuehne

Linda Kuehne