The Romance Industry

…“In 1998, John Gossage was invited by Sandro Mescola of the Comune di Venezia to participate in a research project on the industrial transformation of the city of Venice. The aim of the project was to photograph the substantial economic and social changes underway in its industrial areas.”

I don’t find the work overly romantic though certainly feel John has awful lot of affinity for where he is and his intrigue and curiosity seem endless. The work is lyrical.

It is like John has made it possible for me to see anew. Magical. By a master.

In 1998, American photographer John Gossage was invited to document the changing industrial areas of Venice, Italy. Rather than focusing on the city’s famous canals and historic architecture, he travelled to Marghera, an industrial district across the lagoon, where factories, infrastructure and neglected spaces reveal another side of the Venetian landscape. The project became The Romance Industry, a photographic study of a place undergoing economic and social change.

Born in 1946, Gossage has spent much of his career photographing the less noticed parts of the built environment. His work often centres on overlooked spaces, abandoned land, debris and the traces people leave behind. Instead of presenting places as clear-cut stories, he pays attention to details that might otherwise go unnoticed, allowing the photographs to raise questions about how we inhabit and shape our surroundings.

Although The Romance Industry began as a documentary commission, the project developed into something less straightforward. Gossage had expected to learn more about the industrial transformation of Venice, but the experience instead deepened his curiosity about the place. His photographs do not attempt to explain Marghera in full. They offer fragments: structures, surfaces and spaces that suggest a larger history without spelling it out.

Gossage’s black-and-white photographs often balance careful composition with a sense of uncertainty. Shadows, obstructions and seemingly insignificant details become central to the images. There is no single landmark or defining view to guide the viewer; instead, the photographs encourage a closer look at the everyday surroundings of an industrial landscape, where beauty and neglect exist side by side.

Published as a photobook by Nazraeli Press in 2002, The Romance Industry reflects Gossage’s wider interest in how places hold traces of their past and present. The title suggests a tension between the idea of romance and the reality of industrial life. Rather than making the landscape picturesque, Gossage finds its interest in what is often passed over, creating a portrait of a place that is both specific to Marghera and open to broader interpretation.