Daniel Jackson is a New York City artist and designer. One of the founders of seminal Paris fashion label Surface2Air, he’s also the owner and Creative Director of BBlessing, a downtown high-end men’s boutique. He’s currently collaborating with Palladium on their new line of Fall 2009 Collection.
More from Daniel Jackson
Interview
What kind of people did you meet?
I knocked on a few doors around town to see if anybody would talk to me. Many people weren’t home and the others were over talking about their experience. But we talked with a historian, people who had previously lived there and relocated, and a fire marshal who was involved in dealing with the problem previously. We also met some kids who ride dirt bikes in town because of all the empty space and the fact that cops won’t bother them. It’s like the only contemporary thing going on in Centralia. There are no businesses. They’re even trying to get rid of the zip code. It’s pretty crazy.
And why did so many of the residents leave town in the first place?
Over the years the government bought out the majority of the people who lived there. Many people wanted to stay and some felt this whole ordeal was just a way for the government to access the coal beneath their homes. That was interesting to learn. Over time people figured it’d be in their best interest to leave because there really weren’t any more services available to them within their town. Right now the only active thing in Centralia is the cemetery.
Right. The cemeteries act as the one thing that brings people back.
That was the irony of it. The dead people are keeping the town alive essentially. There are four major cemeteries in town. Obviously this means more people are buried there than are actually living in the town now. The majority of people who even come to Centralia are just visiting. It’s really weird. Besides the individual homes, the cemeteries are probably the only well kept areas of the town.
What does the landscape look like around Route 61?
That stretch of road looks like a rollercoaster. The land has collapsed under it, the asphalt is split open, and there’s trees and bushes growing out of the middle of the road. You have great big gaps, three feet long, where the road is split up and sunken down. Steam comes out of the cracks and the asphalt is hot to the touch. That’s the most visible evidence that something is seriously wrong in Centralia.
You said earlier it looks like a modern age ghost town, which is something really strange to find existing in the U.S. today.
Yeah. You think of a ghost town as being the Wild West, a romanticized place with saloons and tumble weeds, but Centralia has street signs and paved roads. Essentially it looks like the town next to it, which is ironically called Ashland. That’s the freakiest part.
Was there any picture Peter Sutherland took of your time in Centralia that particularly resonates with you?
Well the landscape in that part of Pennsylvania is really green and lush. It’s a very blue-collar sort of area but with a striking beauty to it. You can see why people love the town and Peter was really able to capture the quiet beauty of an area like that. In a town with so few people, it’s so silent. You can’t help but portray a sense of loneliness and exile.
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