My friend Erik Hillard shared this via Facebook. I instantly became fascinated, it's kind of hard not tobe fascinated. In college I did a small series on abandonment of buildings found in Utah county. I wish I could have worked on a project of this scale. I know very little about the photographers who worked on this project,Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, but they created amazing and compelling work.
It still amazes me that as americans we have a tissue mindset. Use it once or twice and throw it away... maybe build a strip mall. nothing is sacred, everything is disposable. All it takes is traveling through europe to realize this about America. A building built in 1911 is considered new in europe. Here, we will destroy it to make way for a new Starbucks. We are quietly destroying our history one strip mall at a time.
The thing that strikes me the most is the historic quality of the buildings photographed. How could we allow them to deteriorate so quickly? While working on my project I was mainly photographing houses, shops, movie theaters, etc. The buildings in this work however are of significant historic importance, librarys, churches, theaters, etc. I look at this and instantly feel an emotional connection to the work. A strong body of work should always emotional to the viewer. have a look at your own work and see if it is emotional. Something to think about anyway, right?
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