Rust-belt cities often conjure an image of decay and decline, but beneath those easy impressions there is something richer: places that are still very much alive. To see this richness requires an intimacy with a city’s cracks and corners, which reg Beaudry brings to his photographs of Hamilton, Ontario. Beaudry moved to Hamilton as a child, and although he has travelled the country, he has always found himself drawn back to what he calls a city with a « brilliant past and a burgeoning present. » His photographs capture Hamilton’s hard beauty, especially the lower city where it all began, and reveal a raw energy that challenges any assumptions of retreat.