Introduction to Exploration
Photography is an exploration in humanity and society. Though new technologies have allowed for a broader application of photography and the creation of imagery, the camera records the scene in front of the lens. A photographer can not alter the perspective, has limitation on lighting conditions and colour, unlike a painter who has control of all these areas. The recognition of “the image” is the talent of the photographer. The artistic image is the one that resonates. Exploration then is the finding, recognising, recording and processing those scenes that speak to a broader audience.
I was first introduced to “urban exploration” in 2005. This is a specific genre of seeking out those abandoned structures that once were the icons of industry and social life. It is the exploration of those things that have been lost in the name of advancement in technology or the trends of society. Lying abandoned and neglected the buildings sit as a time capsule of recent history. Closed power plants, mines, churches, schools, hotels and factories all contain the voices of the men and women who once walk through their doors. Urban Exploration combined my academic training in sociology, my childhood interest of architecture and buildings and my passion of art and photography.
Though most of this portfolio falls into the broad category of urban exploration, we can take the term to an even broader level. I have series devoted to churches, industry, train stations, and other locations. I also have series of artefacts of these locations such as the windows or books. Yet, if we take the concept of exploring the urban environment even further we can also look at those places and things we encounter everyday and take for granted. As I’ve said for countless years, art is everywhere and all we have to do is pay attention to our surroundings. The series of urban landscapes and even horizons falls within this realm.
In this immediate section though are a variety of images from the “urban exploration” genre. These images range from my earliest work to my most recent. When I first fell in love with exploration it was on an afternoon of wandering where I spent shooting a wood factory door painted red. Tentatively going through an open door and discovering the interior of a once vibrant factory. Soon other opportunities presented themselves. An abandon psychiatric hospital, a steel plant and an abandoned government office building which had one of the hardest entries I have had. The images were fascinating to me and I can not discount the thrill of gaining access. It is a process that is creative on numerous levels.
Thunder Silenced: “Dust to Dust”
Though factories and places of industry that are abandoned speak to the changing economy, churches tell a story of changing beliefs and a decline of community. I have a particular fondness for these caverns of worship. The proportions of the structure are symbolic of faith and belief systems. Their current state emphasizes the decline of traditional religions. There is a difference in the atmosphere of the space compared to a hospital, school or factory.
These structures appeal to me on a number of levels. There is my personal sense of spirituality and my life long exploration of the spiritual. There is too my own belief of the limitations of organised religion and the rigidity of that social structure. There is also recognition of the social and historical worth of these institutions and their failure to transition and accommodate modern realities. The abandoned church symbolises the sadness of a community and the inevitable. That which does not bend breaks.
The images in this section have been taken at deconsecrated churches in cities such as Buffalo, Detroit and Philadelphia where populations have declined and demographics change. The inner city neighbourhoods in some areas have given way to an urban prairie in some areas. Reclaimed by nature inside the churches, homes and businesses, as well as in what used to be street, sidewalks and yard. The ceiling of the church opens to the heavens and the elements open up the confines of the cavern.
Regardless of personal beliefs there is the spirit of community in these buildings. In some you can feel the presence of the congregation, hear the voice of the choir, and thumb through the pages of hymnals and other artefacts that can be found. This helps to construct an idea of the lives of those who found solace in their faith.
These institutions are those which help to form the norms, values and beliefs of our society. That which guides actions, forms laws and have contributed to the evolution of culture. With these buildings in various states of decay, what does it say about the direction of our social systems and ways of life?
The romance of Books
As an academic I have had a long standing love affair with books. They are my memory and emblematic of a love for learning. Someone has taken the time to craft what they have written, and care to pen the words to convey their ideas. Books are a means to share in a community, and broaden your own processes of thought. Collectively they form a social memory and consciousness. Books are not only symbols of knowledge, but much more. As they lye decaying in schools, churches, hotels, warehouse and other builds where they at one time had relevance, now they are neglected in a world where the “hardcopy” is considered a remnant of antiquity. There is a sadness I feel when photographing a decaying, disintegrating book. I wish to rescue it and then an attempt to pay it some reverence.
The Detroit Board of Education Book Depository is a warehouse full of book and school supplies. Rotting and exposed to the elements these books have a quality of returning to the original state of the materials on which the words, ideas and images were printed. In the snow there is a resemblance to wood and fallen branches. A natural progression perhaps, yet sadness of the decay and waste still resonates floor after floor, after floor.
The Magic of Windows
I make a link that is somewhat cliché: If eyes are window of the soul, then windows are the eyes of building. It supposes that there is a life in buildings, and much like the soul that life is sometime hidden even to those who wander through those open doors.
Windows to me are fascinating. Not only is there the symbolic link to the soul, but also it is representational of the psychological. The openings of windows and doors are symbolic of transcending from one sphere to another, from life to death, consciousness to sub-consciousness, reality to the imagined. There is a distinct spiritual connotation.
The windows of factories, schools, hospitals and churches have a story that is conveyed through the glass. The shape, the level of transparency and colours tells a tale of the life of the building. There is a spirit conveyed and a more substantive meaning for the image created. The shadow of what is on the other side maybe recognisable but is also separated to lend a quality of being suggestive rather than being real. The grid structure evident in so much of my work is evident here as well.
“Paradise Lost” was taken at the now demolished Whitby Psychiatric Hospital. There is another world quality to the image. Suggesting another time and place. Various levels of meaning can be attached to this image. There is even a greater poignancy when it is revealed that the image was shot looking out of the children’s cottage.
“Sapling Tapestry” is a factory window of Spalding Fibre in Buffalo. The colour of the glass was there and not done through post-production alterations. Each pane of glass is can be a separate image. The tapestry is of the colour of the glass. Through the broken panes you can catch a glimpse of the view outside. Lending to the entire reading of the image would be the shadows of the saplings just on the other side of the window.
The spiritual aspect is underscored by the image “Fruit of the Vine” taken at a deconsecrated church in Detroit. The gothic window frames the leave of the vines climbing on the outside of the building. The varying shades of green are suggestive of life beyond the darkness of the frame. Looking from the inside there is the idea that the light and life is barred from the viewer who is taunted by what lies beyond the frosted glass.
Industry Has Left its Mark
Power plants and factories are indicative of an industrialised past. They refer to an economic that was dependent on a technology which had its genesis dating back to the seventieth century. The architecture is reminiscent of the designs of Gustave Eiffel. The “Iron Arches” of the place we call “Eagle River” dates from the early twentieth century. When it was built the neoclassical building housed the world’s largest Westinghouse turbo-generator. The design of Eagle River was to symbolise that the city had entered the age of electricity. The mammoth structure is awesome in the classical sense. Pipes are ever present in these buildings. The series “Pipes” are studies in shape and form, and colour. The banks of pipes, boiler doors and switches echo the grids of Agnes Martin. There is an abstract quality in these images. Form, colour and light infuse all of these images.
Toronto Brickworks was an iconic location for those who explored. The decaying roof with the maze of holes allowed for streams of sunlight slice through the darkness of the ovens and factory floor. The beams of light are sharp and create the ambiance of the space.
The colour that infuses the spaces of Fischer Automotive seen in the images “Otis” and “Shades of Green” are in stark contrast to the monochromatic images of Packard Automotive or the Book Depository. Even the image of “Reclamation” taken in Belgium is bathed in green. The colour may be singular r muted, but it is rich and present in what many may consider drab and dull.
“Toxic Caverns” is a flooded rail bed. The green of the water is reflected on the concrete ceiling. The blues, purples and greens merge to create a depth of the image that is accented by the recessing of the built cavern. There is a play of perspective and the sense of depth trick the eye.
Transportation: The Age of the Train
Trains are emblematic of the Industrial Revolution. They are romanticised and currently there is a nostalgia which surrounds the ‘golden age of the iron horse’. The structures which were built to accommodate a new method of transportation have a sense of grandeur. Large Romanesque vaulted ceilings of Michigan Central Terminal or Buffalo Central Station speak to an age where travel was an occasion.
Here the stately houses the pedestrian. Mahogany paneled rooms for the first class passengers to sequester themselves from the chaos of the main terminal. The herringbone ceiling of Michigan Central is of a time long forgot. You can image the departures of loved ones, the tears not knowing when you would see them again: Or the tears of joy when greeting a spouse or lover or child. Both the terminals in Detroit and Buffalo are edifices to this stately form of travel.
Patterns Overhead
The beauty of ceilings is evident and often ignored in many of these structures. We forget to look up, but it is a fundamental part of the design. Here are just three of the ceilings: “Precarious” is the ceiling of Eagle River with the iron work and dangling chunks of concrete. The ceilings of two churches are equally detailed. Elegance that is similar to Eagle River but characteristically different. The simplicity of the design is captivating.
If you take the three individual images the patterns of the two churches are echoed in the ceiling of “Eagle River”. The centre square and hexagon seen in the ceilings of the churches is incorporated in the iron work of the power plant. The curves, grids and cross are all repeated from the temple of industry to that of spiritual worship.
Image from PhotoXplorers
I am a founding member and partner of the DK PhotoGroup, which operates galleryDK. In June of 2008 we embarked on shooting a television series. This series followed the DKPG on an adventure through various abandoned sites in Northern France, Southern Germany, Belgium and Lichtenstein. The eventual title of the series was PhotoXplorers and the six part series aired on Bravo Canada, Travel UK and Discovery Asia in November 2009.
DKPG consists of Sean Galbraith, Steve Jacobs, Laurin Jeffery, Mathew Merrett and I. Founded in 2005, the five of us have exhibited together and eventually opened galleryDK in 2007.
We departed in early June and Landed in Frankfurt and traveled by car to Cologne. From here we shot an old Chateau just north of Paris that had been converted to a sanatorium for people suffering from tuberculosis. Circling Paris and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance, we went to another Chateau where “Private Time” was shot. A coal mine in Belgium was castle like, with boots, papers, masks and other artefacts as a testament to the lives of the men and women who worked there. The “Gate” was taken at an abandoned army barracks in Belgium. There was the castle in France and the power plant in Lichtenstein. All locations gave us a glimpse into the lives of the people in the area.
The locations had a different character than many in North America, but also having a strange familiarity. The same elements were recognisable though the language and architecture were quite different. The history of the Kent School where the Nazi regime had house physically challenged children leant an infamy to the chapel and school. The history of the region was palpable, and enriched the ability to capture a particular shot.
Identities and Social Settings
Certain locations attest to the development of individual development. Social institutions such as schools shape our actions, believes and ideas. There is the formation of identities. Secondarily, the cloths in our closets provide us with our personas, we put on our identities. Other places allow us to participate in what we enjoy doing, they are places in which we act out our identities.
A residential hotel in Detroit is a time capsule which contains the artefacts of individuals’ lives. The cloths in the closet are showing a particular time and we can know just a bit about the person who at one time put these on to present himself in society. On the ground floor of Lee Plaza is the ballroom with the grand piano. You can envision the gentleman putting on his brown suit to go and enjoy the music and company below. Similarly, the Vanity Ballroom is an “Aztec deco” design. In a city know for its music the Vanity Ballroom was a place to go on Saturday night.
Lastly, “From the Back of the Class” is a view familiar to me. The state of the classroom is obviously deteriorated. Yet the room shows the formality of rows in an institution charged with the shaping of young minds and personalities. All these are places to express identities.