Place Photographer: Andrew L. Moore

"National Time" http://andrewlmoore.com/view_project.php

I have been fascinated with Andrew Moore's series on Detroit for quite some time now... in fact, I think many people have been intrigued by the recent photos and films of the dilapidated buildings of Detroit. Many people say that all of this attention is focusing on the negative... that if people would just look at the bigger picture, that perhaps right next to that crumbling piece of architecture there is an organic neighborhood farm growing in the lot next door, or a community art project is taking place. People say that in many ways, Detroit is becoming... or is still ... very much alive. This may be true, yet here these buildings sit, to be looted, photographed, razed or continue to decompose, since there is not money to have them demolished.

It was difficult to choose just one photo from the series. Each one has it's own attraction. I'm amazed at Moore's ability, whether by plan or chance... that he happened upon these places that very few people have discovered or paid any attention to. He said in an interview:

"Although one method is to work through diplomatic channels to gain entry to controlled places, my approach has always been to fly below the radar, so to speak. The first thing I try to do is find someone who has the contacts, charm, and curiosity necessary to get things done in a bureaucratic maze, as well as someone who understands what kinds of pictures I'm trying to make."  

Moore's images are sometimes painful to view. There is an overwhelming feeling of waste, lost history and potential... a complete and utter disregard for respect of these monuments of the past. 

I chose this photo because I feel that it does well in summing up the series as a whole. I think that It represents this transitional phase that Detroit is going through... It's difficult to tell where the city actually is as a whole, just as it would be difficult to tell time on this distorted clock. Detroit is caught between the old and the new, beginnings and endings. These buildings might represent the end of one time period, but offer themselves up for many new beginnings. New ways of thinking, new uses for spaces.