This article is a departure from the norm of this site, but I found the images in this article at www.smashingmagazine.com so moving and inspiring that I had to share them. I love looking at design and imagery. By far the more gritty stuff captures my attention and imagination the most.
Often we think of beauty in terms of cleanliness; stuff that is sanitized and “non offensive”. Beauty is often defined by clean lines and clean colours, but beauty can also often be found in the dirt and grit of our very real world, a world where we often need to engage forms of decay and even death in order to discover life, freedom and a beauty that encompasses all the layers of our world.
By no means should we romanticize the ugliness of our world, but also we should not shy away from it – beauty can sometimes be found in the most unlikely places.
In that sense, I guess this does kind of fit the ethos of this site in that part of the motivation of this site is to delve into the grit of life. In doing so, by walking that journey, I have discovered and continue to discover a layer of beauty that offers so much. May that journey continue.
beau⋅ty
/ˈbyuti/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [byoo-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). www.dictionary.com
Here’s a taste of the showcase – for the full contingent of photos and links to their respective artists, check out The Beauty of Urban Decay over at www.smashingmagazine.com
Update: I used the following paragraph to highlight this post at Scoopit – I think it expresses what I see in these images:
Take some time out to have a look at some stunning images that delve into the beauty that exists in our urban decay where once, such areas served as objects that were new and pristine. Such pictures are a testament to the beauty that can be seen in our own mortality, where the first glance may only see horror…
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Some savvy people in New York, probably home to more Urban Grit than anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, have made the mistake of romanticizing ugliness. It’s their way of holding out against the mallification and yuppification of the city that began in the 90s: preserve, yes even romanticize, the dirt and menace of the 70s and 80s.
It’s doubly unfortunate because they don’t want to go back to a slightly earlier time, when New York was still thriving, though gritty. The dystopia is more romantic, thanks to punk and Taxi Driver and such. It’s also real to younger people: some even saw it first hand.
Your images are quietly exquisite – not what these urbanites are looking for.
Paul, thanks for your comment.
That’s an interesting observation and notes a form of escapism amongst the people you are talking about.
What I find in such images of decay is the exact opposite – I find that, when done well, they reveal our own mortality – they hold a mirror up to our temporary state and ask questions about what we as the viewer, are adding to the world. Are we adding stuff that will simply rot and disappear, or are we adding stuff of real and lasting value?
Imagine the pride that would have been taken in the surroundings of the above pictures when they were new – how the people involved in creating those surroundings would have looked upon their new and shiny offerings to the world with excitement… and here they are years on, abandoned and rotting – a testament of what was and a chronicle of our own finiteness.
When looked upon with open eyes, such decay does not allow us the fleeting comfort of escapism, it instead provides a window to the mortality of humanity. The question is, what are we going to do in the face of our mortality? How are we going to use our lives?