Urban Fringe
The approach or departure of a city using the quieter roads allows one to see what is often invisible to those following the numbered red white and blue shields. When you meander your way in and out at the mercy of traffic lights and potholes, the fringes reveal a less happy tale of urban blight and economic hardship.
Baltimore, which is where this diptych was made, felt like every other outskirts I'd passed through so far. It's not intended to single out but rather to represent what I'm sure to see again and again as I pass through our American cities.
And I'm not being political here. So far it's a pattern. No different than suburban strip malls and multiplex parking lots. These areas are just more textured, more layered, and more complicated on many levels.
Make pictures.
Baltimore, which is where this diptych was made, felt like every other outskirts I'd passed through so far. It's not intended to single out but rather to represent what I'm sure to see again and again as I pass through our American cities.
And I'm not being political here. So far it's a pattern. No different than suburban strip malls and multiplex parking lots. These areas are just more textured, more layered, and more complicated on many levels.
Make pictures.
1 comments:
What makes this photo even more powerful (sadder, depressing, whatever) is when you realize that this is actually midtown, well away from the city's outskirts. The buildings are still there and one assumes that people are still living in the area's homes, but most of the local businesses are just gone. While there are a lot of beautiful sections of the city if you know where to go, so much of Baltimore looks like this and worse.
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