Growing up in Northern England amid the spectre of abandoned factories and buildings from its industrial past, I’ve long been captivated by places where machines still sound and the relentless drum of heavy industry continues. This photographic series emerged from years exploring Ostrava, a city in eastern Czechia, where I sought to document the persistent energy of such places - and to wrestle with the hidden costs they bear.

Once celebrated as the driving force of modernity, these industrial centres have become distant, grimy outposts. In the ‘post-industrial’ West, they’ve all but vanished, outsourced to remote corners of the globe, hidden from sight, like exiled deities we claim to have forsaken. Globalisation has veiled them in a shroud of indifference, masking the human effort and environmental strain that sustain our modern lives.

Ostrava defies this erasure with raw, unapologetic force. Its vast steel plant stretches across 10 square kilometres, a labyrinth of towering stacks and glowing forges that never sleep. For over two hundred years, it has forged the city’s identity. Here, machine culture endures - dictating the rhythm of life. The people tied to this pulse carry a tough, unyielding spirit, despite their strength being tempered by the heavy air.

This work blends documentary photography, portraiture, and stark landscapes to cut away that veil, exposing both the awe-inspiring scale and the heavy burden of this machine-driven realm. Shaped by conversations with Ostrava’s inhabitants, I balanced observation with intervention, paying tribute to their endurance, whilst acknowledging the gap between their reality and mine as an outsider. The resulting images merge documentary detail with brooding atmospheric texture - rekindling a child’s curiosity about worlds Where Machines Rule and revealing a reality as essential today as it was in the past - hidden, enduring, and impossible to ignore.

Many thanks to my brother, Dominic, who tirelessly helped me capture these images with great patience and curiosity.

Growing up in Northern England amid the spectre of abandoned factories and buildings from its industrial past, I’ve long been captivated by places where machines still sound and the relentless drum of heavy industry continues. This photographic series emerged from years exploring Ostrava, a city in eastern Czechia, where I sought to document the persistent energy of such places - and to wrestle with the hidden costs they bear.

Once celebrated as the driving force of modernity, these industrial centres have become distant, grimy outposts. In the ‘post-industrial’ West, they’ve all but vanished, outsourced to remote corners of the globe, hidden from sight, like exiled deities we claim to have forsaken. Globalisation has veiled them in a shroud of indifference, masking the human effort and environmental strain that sustain our modern lives.

Ostrava defies this erasure with raw, unapologetic force. Its vast steel plant stretches across 10 square kilometres, a labyrinth of towering stacks and glowing forges that never sleep. For over two hundred years, it has forged the city’s identity. Here, machine culture endures - dictating the rhythm of life. The people tied to this pulse carry a tough, unyielding spirit, despite their strength being tempered by the heavy air.

This work blends documentary photography, portraiture, and stark landscapes to cut away that veil, exposing both the awe-inspiring scale and the heavy burden of this machine-driven realm. Shaped by conversations with Ostrava’s inhabitants, I balanced observation with intervention, paying tribute to their endurance, whilst acknowledging the gap between their reality and mine as an outsider. The resulting images merge documentary detail with brooding atmospheric texture - rekindling a child’s curiosity about worlds Where Machines Rule and revealing a reality as essential today as it was in the past - hidden, enduring, and impossible to ignore.

Many thanks to my brother, Dominic, who tirelessly helped me capture these images with great patience and curiosity.

Security check point at the east gate of the ArcelorMittal steel plant, Ostrava.

A worker walks home after finishing his shift at the ArcelorMittal steel plant, Ostrava.

The Gasparova family sit outside their home, an abandoned miner’s cottage.

ArcelorMittal steel workers at the end of their shift - the steel plant is the second largest employer in the Czechia.

5am, workers head to their morning shift. The 3 x 8 hour shift cycle regulates many residents' daily routine.

Prostitute, ‘Veronika’ smokes before starting her shift at a local brothel close to the steel plant.

The Ostrava City Council Information Centre displays current airborne dust levels in its window.

The town's steel plant lies 3km east of the city and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

A landlady and her son wait for customers at their typical Czech pub, 'Hospudka Lucina'.

Steel plant workers head in for the afternoon/evening shift.

A monument to steel workers from the communist-era stands at the entrance to the plant.

A worker absorbed in the sports betting pages heads home on the bus.

The only housing availbale to the town's Roma population is often in vacated buildings next to the steel plant.

A teenage Roma girl stands outside her apartment block next to the steel plant.

Many locals attribute high mortality rates from cancer to air pollution from the steel plant.

A couple tend to the grave of their recently deceased relative.

Roland is watched over by his mother as he sleeps during a bout of pneumonia.

Medical records from the Radvanice clinic show 3x rate of childhood asthma than the national average.

Paediatrician, Dr. Eva Schallerova, checks for fluid in the lungs of a local child.

A scientist checks one of the city's airborne pollution monitoring stations for levels of harmful PM 2.5 particles.

A used filter from one of the city's air quality sensors. Before exposure the filter is white.

A map of polution sensors around the city. Red and black pins show levels far exceeding WHO limits.

Matej, 7, who lives near the steel plant, frequently suffers asthma attacks whenever he goes outside.

When smog descends on the city, the municiplatity advises people stay home, leaving the streets empty.

A couple make their way home through the evening smog.

A bus driver takes a break for a smoke during a 'smog' day in Ostrava.

‘Nahore Bez’ - Topless Night. Once a week a waitress works bare chested whilst serving her customers.

Many locals report a strong sulphurous smell after dark and believe harmful emissions increase at night.

Zárubek, a settlement of 60 Roma families, lies just 50 metres from the steel plant's perimeter fence.

Many Roma in Ostrava are unemployed and are forced to scavenge amongst waste disgarded from the steel plant.

A group of Roma men search for metal amongst a gigantic pile of waste from the steel plant.

A teenager burns plastic from some copper wire he has salvaged from the steel plant waste.

A boy warms himself by a scavanger's fire in the Roma settlement of Zárubek.

Vladimir, a member of a citizens action group, surveys the steel plant chimneys from the roof of his house.

In Radvanice, benzo[a]pyrene has been recorded at 23.7 ng/m³, making it one of the world’s most polluted places.

Sisters, Eliska and Jana play music; their parents send them away when possible, otherwise they stay indoors.

An old coal mine lies derelict. 1990s de-industrialisation caused huge job losses and high unemployment.

An unemployed man waits at Ostrava's tram station.

A winter air inversion, causes smog to partial obscure the steel plant next to the town.

The Gasparova children await the arrival of spring and the possibility of cleaner air.

A steel worker heads on home in the snow by Ostravice River, Ostrava.

Security check point at the east gate of the ArcelorMittal steel plant, Ostrava.

A worker walks home after finishing his shift at the ArcelorMittal steel plant, Ostrava.

The Gasparova family sit outside their home, an abandoned miner’s cottage.

ArcelorMittal steel workers at the end of their shift - the steel plant is the second largest employer in the Czechia.

5am, workers head to their morning shift. The 3 x 8 hour shift cycle regulates many residents' daily routine.

Prostitute, ‘Veronika’ smokes before starting her shift at a local brothel close to the steel plant.

The Ostrava City Council Information Centre displays current airborne dust levels in its window.

The town's steel plant lies 3km east of the city and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

A landlady and her son wait for customers at their typical Czech pub, 'Hospudka Lucina'.

Steel plant workers head in for the afternoon/evening shift.

A monument to steel workers from the communist-era stands at the entrance to the plant.

A worker absorbed in the sports betting pages heads home on the bus.

The only housing availbale to the town's Roma population is often in vacated buildings next to the steel plant.

A teenage Roma girl stands outside her apartment block next to the steel plant.

Many locals attribute high mortality rates from cancer to air pollution from the steel plant.

A couple tend to the grave of their recently deceased relative.

Roland is watched over by his mother as he sleeps during a bout of pneumonia.

Medical records from the Radvanice clinic show 3x rate of childhood asthma than the national average.

Paediatrician, Dr. Eva Schallerova, checks for fluid in the lungs of a local child.

A scientist checks one of the city's airborne pollution monitoring stations for levels of harmful PM 2.5 particles.

A used filter from one of the city's air quality sensors. Before exposure the filter is white.

A map of polution sensors around the city. Red and black pins show levels far exceeding WHO limits.

Matej, 7, who lives near the steel plant, frequently suffers asthma attacks whenever he goes outside.

When smog descends on the city, the municiplatity advises people stay home, leaving the streets empty.

A couple make their way home through the evening smog.

A bus driver takes a break for a smoke during a 'smog' day in Ostrava.

‘Nahore Bez’ - Topless Night. Once a week a waitress works bare chested whilst serving her customers.

Many locals report a strong sulphurous smell after dark and believe harmful emissions increase at night.

Zárubek, a settlement of 60 Roma families, lies just 50 metres from the steel plant's perimeter fence.

Many Roma in Ostrava are unemployed and are forced to scavenge amongst waste disgarded from the steel plant.

A group of Roma men search for metal amongst a gigantic pile of waste from the steel plant.

A teenager burns plastic from some copper wire he has salvaged from the steel plant waste.

A boy warms himself by a scavanger's fire in the Roma settlement of Zárubek.

Vladimir, a member of a citizens action group, surveys the steel plant chimneys from the roof of his house.

In Radvanice, benzo[a]pyrene has been recorded at 23.7 ng/m³, making it one of the world’s most polluted places.

Sisters, Eliska and Jana play music; their parents send them away when possible, otherwise they stay indoors.

An old coal mine lies derelict. 1990s de-industrialisation caused huge job losses and high unemployment.

An unemployed man waits at Ostrava's tram station.

A winter air inversion, causes smog to partial obscure the steel plant next to the town.

The Gasparova children await the arrival of spring and the possibility of cleaner air.

A steel worker heads on home in the snow by Ostravice River, Ostrava.

Growing up in Northern England amid the spectre of abandoned factories and buildings from its industrial past, I’ve long been captivated by places where machines still sound and the relentless drum of heavy industry continues. This photographic series emerged from years exploring Ostrava, a city in eastern Czechia, where I sought to document the persistent energy of such places - and to wrestle with the hidden costs they bear.

Once celebrated as the driving force of modernity, these industrial centres have become distant, grimy outposts. In the ‘post-industrial’ West, they’ve all but vanished, outsourced to remote corners of the globe, hidden from sight, like exiled deities we claim to have forsaken. Globalisation has veiled them in a shroud of indifference, masking the human effort and environmental strain that sustain our modern lives.

Ostrava defies this erasure with raw, unapologetic force. Its vast steel plant stretches across 10 square kilometres, a labyrinth of towering stacks and glowing forges that never sleep. For over two hundred years, it has forged the city’s identity. Here, machine culture endures - dictating the rhythm of life. The people tied to this pulse carry a tough, unyielding spirit, despite their strength being tempered by the heavy air.

This work blends documentary photography, portraiture, and stark landscapes to cut away that veil, exposing both the awe-inspiring scale and the heavy burden of this machine-driven realm. Shaped by conversations with Ostrava’s inhabitants, I balanced observation with intervention, paying tribute to their endurance, whilst acknowledging the gap between their reality and mine as an outsider. The resulting images merge documentary detail with brooding atmospheric texture - rekindling a child’s curiosity about worlds Where Machines Rule and revealing a reality as essential today as it was in the past - hidden, enduring, and impossible to ignore.

Many thanks to my brother, Dominic, who tirelessly helped me capture these images with great patience and curiosity.