Sandra Steinbrecher: The Salt Shed

Kelly talks to Sandra Steinbrecher, a Chicago documentary photographer whose new book captures the transformation of the Morton Salt factory into The Salt Shed, a premier music venue in Chicago. 

 

For our non-Chicago audience, how can you describe our fascination with the old Morton Salt Warehouse and the iconic logo on its roof? 

“The Morton Salt Company Warehouse complex, which is its actual official name, is nearly a hundred years old. It was built in 1929, and soon after, the Morton Salt logo was painted on the roof. What’s been gracing this giant oversized poster or billboard for our city for years, and now most of us have been driving on the Kennedy highway – although that wasn’t built until 1960 – or driving or bicycling on Elston Avenue. And it was this sturdy very familiar and beloved presence. It’s this girl on the roof. She’s a child, and she is very welcoming, and we all have the salt in our cupboard. So, it’s this sense of familiarity and nostalgia, and then genuine interest. I think everybody wanted to know what’s behind that billboard.” 

 

The photos of the structure are amazing but it’s your photos of the people doing the construction work that were surprisingly moving to me. 

“We think of our buildings and our construction as being done by giant machines – which they are always, on a major construction site. But we don’t realize, and I didn’t realize until I was there witnessing it, that people are still at the center. A giant steel beam might be lifted up by a crane, but people are placing it, moving it, welding it. And so, hands. human hands are on everything. The care that is taken with this kind of work gets buried under layers of gravel or layers of concrete or paint. And so, we see this beautiful space when it’s redone, but we don’t realize the sort of invisible, careful, beautiful work that was done as the foundation by human beings. 

 

I know that you had permission to take photos of the beginning of the development of the venue, but when did it become a thing that could be a book? 

“I was told that the roof panels were coming down because they needed to be replaced with new ones. They were the originals and the steel underneath had to be rebuilt or replaced. I’m a documentary photographer, and I thought, ‘I gotta shoot that.’ So, I asked if I could come back. It was about a 2-week process for them to take the panels down and I was hooked. I just started making relationships, and I just was compelled to keep going back. I still had no idea what I was doing. I was literally motivated by the visual stimulation all around me, and it was so interesting I just kept photographing. Some months later I realized there were so many stories. There was a story, a main story, and there were many themes. And that’s when I had a conversation with myself: would I be okay if nothing happened with these photos, and they ended up sitting in my archive? And I said, Yes. This is way too much fun not to do. I’m just gonna do it. And then, as time went on, you know, things gelled.”