the ruins of detroit project

The ruins of detroit project. The detroit ruins project has been in progress in some form or another for six years. During that time we have seen Detroit grow and change. It started in High school when we treated the cities abandoned buildings as playgrounds. We were a group of photographers that spent every day shooting. In college, some people move out of state, some just moved on, but we stayed, we kept comming back to the same places and began documenting thier changes over time. We saw our favorite buildings burn to the ground and found new ones along the way. Each building has it's own mysteries, that we'e tried to solve and it's own beauty.The project shifted somewhere, to deal with the idea of abandoment in general. We traveld across the midwest and photographed abandoned towns in Iowa and homes in Missori and anything we found along the way. The focus seemed to stay on detroit and we photographed abandoned homes, warehouses, yaht clubs, skyscrappers, retail stores, and tralior parks.The first body of work was finished in 2004 titled Ruins, the second titled Rural series 2005, and since we have picked up on the ruins series and been working harder then ever. We've been shown in the Scarab Club, Xhedos Cafe, Wayne State University, Michigan Federal Building, and been affiliated with Exposure Detroit, Michigan In Pictures, Wayne State University Undergraduate Research, and am always looking for more help with the project.Most recently we've started to realise the corelation between these buildings and the art, music, and life that come out of this city. People who live and work here are almost always trying to make it a better place, and there is so much life in a city most see as a dying or dead city. We have been working fervently to give an accurate picture of whats going on down here, photographing everday life, as well as the fast paced nights that never end.We've run around alot of buildings in Detroit, and we've learned alot of lessons doing it, including black eyes, nasty cuts and close escapes from wild dogs. We respect the buildings, thus no destruction of property, and no breaking and entering. We have learned rules of saftey including proctective equipment, and number of people. However no matter how many precautions we take it is still very danerous, we are not condoning it, esp. if you fall in love with it and it takes up six years of your life.Also to protect us and the buildings, we will never post thier locations .., so please do not ask. and while we love graffiti, and graffiti artists, we do not suggest you pick up a can and start spraying. The people who live and work here are some of the most inspiring people we've ever met, and we've undertaken this project with the help of a research grant from wayne state university to document this moment of time in a city that is at a turning point."The abandonment in Detroit spans types of space; residential, commercial, and industrial, the only city in the United States that houses abandoned skyscrapers. For centuries humans have been attracted to ruins, testaments to lives that are now gone and removed. The ruins of Detroit have become ghostly skeletons that the earth is pulling to the ground, shelters for the homeless, and playgrounds for modern explorers and graffiti artists. My photos are documents of their existence."..[if !IE] ..[endif]