Inner City Abandonment, in Photos

David Schalliol's photographs of abandoned places around the country are intended to be testaments to various social forces that have broken down urban places in recent years. But, he says, they are optimistic as well.

1 minute read

January 15, 2012, 11:00 AM PST

By Judy Chang


"Many of the images displayed here are from one portion of my collaborative project with historian Michael Carriere, documenting how people throughout the United States are engaging problems in their communities. Given the financial crisis and housing market collapse, these problems are increasingly related to foreclosures, abandonment and dereliction. In short, the subjects of these photographs.

Still, it would be a mistake to only read the scenes in these images as victims of decline. Aspects of community life, artistic engagement with place and even with civic attempts to address the problems -- if not always their causes -- are present in many of these photographs."

Monday, December 12, 2011 in Huffington Post

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