This 30-by-27-inch near-square panorama documents the Summit National site in Deerfield Township, Ohio—one of the EPA Superfund locations where industrial waste contaminated land and groundwater severely enough to require federal intervention. The compact format concentrates attention on contaminated landscape.

Created in 1990, the work represents Hayashi’s documentation of Ohio’s Superfund sites during an era when environmental cleanup was becoming national priority. Summit National exemplifies the industrial waste disposal practices that made Superfund necessary: hazardous materials improperly contained, contamination spreading through soil and groundwater, cleanup costs exceeding responsible parties’ ability or willingness to pay.

Deerfield Township in Portage County lies within Ohio’s industrial northeast, the region’s manufacturing history creating contamination legacy that Superfund addresses. The sites Hayashi documented represented decades of accumulated environmental damage requiring years of remediation.

The near-square format creates balanced composition for a landscape whose contamination is largely invisible but profoundly present. The photo collage technique fragments the scene while revealing the terrain whose subsurface contamination made it a federal priority.

Environmental contamination often leaves little visible evidence—no rusting equipment or crumbling buildings—making photographic documentation particularly challenging. This panorama captures the surface appearance of a site whose danger lies underground, documenting the visual ordinariness that can mask severe contamination.