Yesterday we finally went and explored the old warehouse that backs on to the alley behind our house. We have always wondered whats inside its beautiful old brick interior and the newly open door hanging off its hinges finally enticed us in. I would have been in total bliss finding this place when I was studying textiles at art school at a time when I was quite enamored with abandoned spaces (The Empty Show). The first room we wade through is a musty thread soup, opening up into a vast area of dusty machines, boxes spilling thread, spikey implements, and graffiti practice.
Below is the work of some photographers whose evocative images document the beauty and melancholy of abandoned places.
David Maisel
Library of Dust
2005 — 2006
“. . . these canisters hold the cremated remains of patients from an American psychiatric hospital. Oddly reminiscent of bullet casings, the canisters are literal gravesites. Reacting with their ash inhabitants, the canisters are now blooming with secondary minerals, articulating new metallic landscapes.”
— Geoff Manaugh, Contemporary
Edward Burtynsky
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com
‘The city of Shenyang, located in China’s northeast Tiexi District, was until very recently China’s industrial backbone and home to the most densely focused concentration of heavy industry.’
Kevin Bauman
100 Abandoned Houses
‘The abandoned houses project began innocently enough roughly ten years ago. I actually began photographing abandonment in Detroit in the mid 90’s as a creative outlet, and as a way of satisfying my curiosity with the state of my home town. I had always found it to be amazing, depressing, and perplexing that a once great city could find itself in such great distress, all the while surrounded by such affluence.’
Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre
‘Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies
and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension.’
The beauty of decay. Great collections.
There are some incredible , haunting photos of Prypiat, 20 years after Chernobyl here— http://villageofjoy.com/chernobyl-today-a-creepy-story-told-in-pictures/
Were you able to find out anything about the building you explored? I’m quite fascinated by the stories behind the aobndments.
Hey Heath, thanks for the comment & link… we will have a bit of a hunt around for info on the building – I know some of our friends tried to find out who owned it as it could potentially make an amazing studio space, but I don’t think they got too far…
I always wonder, when you are browsing the world of abandoned buildings, do you ever worry about some crazy old guy with a shotgun ?
Not so much…..but then these days I don’t really go at night, which is somehow less eerie. I have come across some crazy old guys before – one wielding a crow bar but only in defense of other crazy old guys and he meant me no harm.
Some stunning and thought provoking photos.
I’m always fascinated as to the story behind how and why it becomes acceptable or necessary for a person or people to abandon things after time, money and effort has been used to assemble those things in a place. And what the emotional impact of that abandonment is.
I was immediately reminded of artist/photographer Roger Ballen,whilst browsing through these images. His photography to me is a beautiful marriage of drawing and assemblage, found objects and spaces..I imagine there is much more depth to his work but havent scratched that surface yet, still just admiring the raw aesthetic beauty.
He had a show in Paddington (Sydney) earlier this year..
Thought I’d share
k.