Silk Reeling Factory Turbine Hall at Sunset

Hot water fills shallow basins where silk cocoons unwind into continuous threads. The room is a vast turbine hall with high ceilings and steel supports. Late summer light streams through high windows, casting long orange shadows across the concrete floor. Metallic haze hangs low above the machinery, catching the fading sun. Workers in simple clothing move along the narrow walkways between the basins. The water ripples gently as the silk pulls from the cocoons. Rust and oil stain the metal surfaces. One coil of wet silk rests on a wooden trough near the foreground.