'Greetings from Niagara'

By Linda Grace

Special to the Express

The Niagara Arts and Cultural Center (NACC) is proud to present Greetings from Niagara, a compelling new exhibition by award-winning documentary photographer Natalia Neuhaus, on view Aug. 22 through Sept. 12, 2026, in the Kudela Gallery.

Greetings from Niagara investigates the hidden radioactive legacy of Niagara Falls, once a key center of uranium processing for the Manhattan Project and, later, atomic research and industry during the Cold War. Drawing on government records, federal investigations, contracts and radiation surveys, Neuhaus reconstructs how radioactive industrial waste left the factories that produced it and became embedded throughout the region.

Far from its postcard image, Niagara Falls carries a largely overlooked legacy of radioactive industrial contamination. Neuhaus traces how local industries processed uranium and other materials for the nation’s atomic program, leaving radioactive byproducts that were later documented beneath roads, schools, neighborhoods and other developed properties. Her work confronts the consequences of secrecy, industrial negligence and the long-term vulnerability of communities living with that legacy.

The Greetings from Niagara Project interactive map turns decades of fragmented records into a public resource, allowing residents to explore where radioactive materials were processed, transported and later documented across Western New York.

Explore the interactive map: https://natalianeuhaus.github.io/GreetingsFromNiagaraProject/

“Eighty years after the first atomic bomb, the true legacy of war is visible not only in history books but in poisoned ground,” said Natalia Neuhaus. “In Niagara Falls, the land itself bears witness, silently revealing the consequences of contamination. It is haunting and daunting to confront this tainted, yet still beautiful, place. What has been done cannot be erased, nor ignored. This exhibit seeks to raise awareness in the pursuit of justice for this land and its residents.”

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Natalia Neuhaus is an interdisciplinary artist and photographer whose work examines aftermaths—the overlooked traces of conflict, industry, and stigma. Neuhaus approaches her work as a form of visual knowledge and an act of witnessing that brings hidden narratives to light. Her projects emerge organically through encounters, research, curiosity, intuition, and self-reflection. Neuhaus combines journalistic research with an interdisciplinary visual practice, piecing together fragmented histories while revealing what official records and data alone cannot convey. Her honors include the Leica x VII Agency Mentorship Award in 2022, a Women Photograph Grant in 2024, and, most recently, an Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grant, administered by the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is currently an MFA candidate at Columbia University, Class of 2027.