About Jean Miele
Photographer. Sailor. Third-generation Brooklynite. Jean Miele is a commercial and fine-art photographer whose work has been exhibited internationally and acquired by collectors worldwide. His love of science, history, and maritime adventure form the backbone of his lovingly-crafted Vestiges of Industry series.
About the works in this exhibition, he says, “As New York is surrounded by water, so are we all surrounded by the virtually invisible remnants of our own history. If you listen carefully, these images will whisper to you. Their stories will transport you to another world as surely as a time machine. Their fragile presence, and the ongoing disappearance of their kind, begs the question:
‘What became of the people who forged these ships and shipyards – who left work one day, never to return?’
It is a small leap then, to also wonder:
‘What will become of us, and the things we make?’”
Maritime Studies is a subset of the Vestiges of Industry series that focuses on pre-computer-era workboats and nautical technology. I make these pictures where I find them, but quite a few have been made in New York, thanks to a passionate and thriving maritime-preservation and historical community. Featured in this selection of images are four vintage touchstones of New York’s vanishing seafaring heritage: the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Red Hook’s Todd Shipyard, the fireboat John J. Harvey, and the tugboat Pegasus.
For more about Jean and his work, please visit: www.jeanmiele.com