michele bosak projects

As part of a collaboration funded by the Great Lakes Colleges Association, Steve Nelson and Sarah Lindley investigated the former Plainwell Paper Mill, a brownfield site on the Kalamazoo River in Southwest Michigan. Originally incorporated as the Michigan Paper Company in 1886, the mill changed ownership multiple times before permanently closing in 2000. Like many paper plants in the region, it contributed to PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) contamination of the river, leading to its designation as a Superfund site by the EPA in 1990. Spanning 80 miles of polluted water, sediment, and surrounding land, it remains one of the most significant regional cleanup efforts in the United States. By its designation, many responsible parties had already left the area, and within a decade, nearly all of the region's paper mills had shuttered. In 2006, the City of Plainwell acquired the abandoned mill and its surrounding land instead of unpaid taxes, hoping to reclaim and redefine its future. Some structures have since been demolished and sold for scrap, while three historic buildings have been redeveloped into City Hall, Plainwell Public Safety, and private offices. The remaining buildings stand exposed to the elements, awaiting further restoration and reuse as EPA cleanup efforts continue. In the summer of 2015, Lindley and Nelson were invited by the City to stage site-specific interventions in two of the abandoned structures as part of a broader visioning process. Their work explored the site's history, materiality, and environmental impact, engaging with its past while considering possibilities for its future. The exhibition features this collaboration's photographs, objects, and material remnants, offering a window into the site's complex legacy and ongoing transformation.