Photograph by Nicole Rork for Detroit Ruins. Used with permission.
I want you to look at a website of photographs of abandoned places...
I already sense the disinterest.
Well, hear me out. I want you to look at Detroit Ruins.
I want you to see how Nicole Rork offers a tour of the ruins of Detroit, Gary and a few other cities through images that are at once prosaic and beautiful. I want you to notice that she provides short histories of the places she documents, with accurate information and links to other sources. Rork captures the vividness of faded colors, the brightness in dark rooms and the larger world in confined spaces. She's a bit of a conjurer -- taking shots with views wide enough to suggest that life in some form is lurking right outside of the frame of the still scenes she documents. Perhaps she is confronting that force somewhere while her camera takes its picture. Perhaps not. Does it matter? The subject matter itself gains a new life through her gaze.
I want you to look at Detroit Ruins.
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3 comments:
I've always been fascinated with the city of Detroit, maybe because St. Louis can identify with it. The city is so interesting and layered, and every St. Louisan should make it a point to visit one of America's most famous cities. It's a good 7-10 years behind St. Louis in terms of the back-to-the-city movement, but it is improving. The downtown art deco skyscrapers will blow you away, yet a good number of them are completely vacant.
To get a feel for the Motor City, go to T"The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit": www.detroityes.com
(one of the oldest urban photo/forum websites on the Internet).
No disinterest here.
Thanks for the link.
Thomas
I did. Fascinating.
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