one-twenty-five:

Detroit Disassembled 
by Andrew Moore.

As much as I enjoy looking at art, photography is where my heart is (I know, that sounds lame, but it’s true. I lurrrrrve photography exhibits). I find when it comes to art, I either like it or I don’t, and then I move on. Whereas with photography, I find I can be that cliche person, the one who can stare at a photograph until time restraints pull me away. 

Andrew Moore’s photos of the tragedy of Detroit were stunning. It left me thinking of the images I had seen long after I left the Queen’s Museum of Art, and if you’re in NYC or the surrounding area I highly recommend the trip out to Flushing to see it. You will not be disappointed, plus the Queen’s museum has an amazing mini replica of New York’s five boroughs.

From 1900 to 1930 Detroit’s population went from 265,000 to 1.5million, a booming American city on all accounts. Then from 1950 to 2011 it dropped from 1.85 million to 714,000 people.

Moore photographs surreal images of what was once impressive, thriving buildings and land monuments in Detroit, but now sit abandoned as nature slowly takes back its spot.

I learned so much from this exhibit and found it so humbling to see great landmarks, that once were the world’s vision of a city and country’s wealth (the top photo is of the Ford factory), left to the natural elements.

One of the captions about the exhibit read, “Europeans have started to visit Detroit to see America’s ruins,” which I did not know, and certainly shocked me.  The exhibit opened my eyes to the economic shift that is happening. It was so sad to see, yet I found Moore’s photos so beautiful it was hard to look away.

All photos from Andrew Moore’s website

I was fortunate to see a couple of these GIANT prints at the DIA during my photo history field trip. The top photo is so large, they don’t have a place to put it. It sits in its frame on the ground. When I say giant, I mean it’s AT LEAST seven feet tall. All of these photos were shot on a large format, film camera then scanned digitally. 

If you get a chance, check them some of the photos out at the DIA. I am not sure how long the exhibit will be up though. It may be gone for all I know.

(via rynninator)