Imperial Food Products Plant, Hamlet, North Carolina, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"

About this artwork

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Joel Sternfeld

Title

Imperial Food Products Plant, Hamlet, North Carolina, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1994

Medium

Chromogenic print

Edition

1 of 7

Inscriptions

Inscribed and signed verso, on mount, along bottom edge, in black ink: "1/7 Imperial Chicken Factory, Hamlet, North Carolina (June 1994) N-June 1994 / October 1994 Joel Sternfeld" Twenty-five employees died and fifty-six were injured in a fire that swept through this chicken processing plant on September 3, 1991. Nearly all of the victims died of smoke inhalation while trying to escape through exits that were illegally blocked or padlocked. The plant had no fire alarm, no automatic sprinklers, and one fire extinguisher. Emmett J. Roe, owner of Imperial Food Products, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to almost twenty years in prison. Loretta Goodwin, a worker who survived the fire, claimed that the company kept the doors locked to prevent employees from stealing chickens. From the series, On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam

Dimensions

Image/paper: 47.7 × 60.2 cm (18 13/16 × 23 3/4 in.); Mount: 70.9 × 82.7 cm (27 15/16 × 32 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Acquired from the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, through an Anonymous Gift

Reference Number

1997.287

Extended information about this artwork

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