Every city has a side it doesn’t flaunt. Away from the polished downtowns, scenic parks, and popular landmarks lies a grittier landscape — the “underbelly” — where industry meets necessity. In Providence, Rhode Island, the city’s underbelly is found in its port and waterfront areas, zones steeped in history, resilience, and an uncompromising edge. Historically, waterfronts have long been hubs for tough, transient lives; they are places of promise and peril, where day laborers, sailors, stevedores, and those navigating society’s fringes congregate. This image is familiar from classics like the 1954 film On the Waterfront, in which Marlon Brando portrayed the rough existence surrounding New York Harbor. Providence’s port mirrors these same themes, embodying the unvarnished resilience of waterfront life.

Providence Harbor was once a larger and busier port through which goods were brought in and out of the city, fueling the growth of the industrial Northeast Region. While the demands of modern economies have changed, the port remains a hub of activity, now home to a new automobile storage lot, metal recycling facilities, salt storage, asphalt processing, petroleum products and cement dust offloading and storage, and Providence’s sewage treatment plant. Here, large freighters and tankers moor to offload the materials that sustain the area’s infrastructure and industries. It’s an ecosystem reliant on heavy machinery, warehouses, storage tanks and industrial yards, plus the businesses and services required to meet the needs of those modern versions of day laborers, sailors and stevedores — sex, drugs, liquor, and food.

However, this industrial core has its tensions. For the residents of South Providence, the port’s activity brings daily challenges. The odors, noise, dust, and pollution from the port seep into their neighborhoods, invading homes and public spaces. Complaints of cement dust in the air, odors from petroleum storage and sewage treatment facility, and the relentless hum of machinery serve as a constant reminder of the waterfront’s encroachment on community life. The friction between industrial needs and neighborhood concerns underscores the dichotomy between a area’s needs for sustenance and growth and its impacts on those who live closest to its industrial edges.

Underbelly is a photographic project meant to capture the harder edge of Providence’s waterfront—an area integral to the city’s survival yet often avoided or ignored. These photographs invite viewers to look closely at the elements that define this space: the concrete and steel, the rust and grit, and the collisions of industry and life. This project is a visual record that reminds us that every underbelly has a story.

Note: I have just begun to work on this project. Many of the images below are test shots, made with scouting the best angles, time of day, etc. in mind. I will continue to work on this project and move images in and out with the goal of creating a zine or book down the road.