Kaya & Blank: Intermodal

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are not only the largest port complex in the United States but also the busiest in North and South America. Each year, they handle over 15 million cargo containers, which translates to over $300 billion worth of goods. The sheer scale of these operations is difficult to comprehend, with towering cranes that can lift and move cargo containers weighing over 100,000 pounds with ease and giant cargo ships the size of multiple football fields. Each day, these colossal ships arrive from all corners of the world, bringing with them an endless stream of commodities. The operations in these ports are simply massive, dwarfing the workers and machinery that move the containers from ship to shore. The spectacle of these daily operations is both fascinating and concerning. On the one hand, the scale of commerce, the efficiency and speed with which cargo moves, and the technological innovations that enable it are captivating. On the other hand, the environmental and social consequences of the globalized supply chains that these ports support are enormous. They are a testament to an architecture of power that exploits cheap labor forces in distant countries to provide affordable goods to the world’s largest consumer society. 

Accompanying the video is a series of photographic objects using the salted paper printing process. This 19th-century technique adds a historic dimension to an installation that shows a system rooted in centuries of forceful colonial expansion. The saltwater used for sensitizing these prints was collected directly from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, embedding the material essence of the site into each image. While the video component offers a close-up view of operations in the ports and intermodal freight system, the photographs shift perspective by capturing industrial marine traffic hovering over the horizon of serene seascapes. This contrast between proximity and distance highlights the vast scale of global shipping networks and their omnipresence in everyday life. The pollution of the collected water leaves faint traces on the prints, producing subtle chemical reactions that form a connection to the site, making visible the impact of industrial logistics.