Deserted Paper Mill

Abandoned factory, Downingtown, PA 2014 (my photo)

Sonoco closed this paper mill after a fire in 2005. Plans to redevelop the site are underway.

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is currently hosting an exhibit of David Lynch’s work, and that of his colleagues, in the late 1960s. While reading the PAFA page discussing the show, this passage–describing Philadelphia’s influence on Lynch–resonated with my experience: “The industrial ruins, urban decay and strange visual juxtapositions Lynch experienced in the city struck him as beautiful because of, rather than despite the emptiness and horror.”