Photographer Lewis Ableidinger is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this social documentary photography. These images are from his project ‘A Town You Haven’t Heard Of – Kensal, ND‘. To see Lewis’ body of work click on any image.
Kensal Community Cafe
Kensal (population 163) is a small town just off of Highway 20 in central North Dakota. You’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s the town I grew up in. It wasn’t really what you’d call a thriving town, but it had what you needed; a grocery store, a cafe, three churches, and of course a bar. It even had a high school until last year when a class of two was the final ones to receive a diploma on the makeshift stage erected in the gymnasium.
'The grocery store closed, the cafe almost closed, people moved on, and people passed on..."
I began making photographs of the people and places of Kensal in 2003 during visits home from college. At first I just viewed them as interesting pictures of my town but as the years progressed they developed into a more meaningful project. The grocery store closed, the cafe almost closed, people moved on, and people passed on; the patina of time added a new dimension to the old 35mm negatives filed away in the basement.
These photographs represent Kensal as I remember it. The old men gathered at the bar to warm up on a cold winter night; most of the town turned out to watch the girl’s basketball team; the special Valentine’s Day dinner at the community-owned cafe. This was life in Kensal.
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By Lewis Ableidinger
