Signs of the Times is part of an ongoing project that documents the remains of failed enterprise.

Beginning in 2009, as the “great recession” strengthened its grip on the nation, I began documenting evidence of failing businesses. Nothing heralded the steady march into bankruptcy more potently than the vacant sign that remained after the lights went out and the doors were shuttered. The sign, once a beacon announcing opportunity is now a silent sentinel, a testament to the hopes and dreams, money and sweat equity invested and lost.

In many ways those decaying remains are a metaphor for the humanity of the economic crisis. Lives changed, for better or for worse, as the great economic engine sputtered. For thousands of individuals that change continues and much like the vacant signs, that emptiness invites new beginnings.