Clocks For Seeing : Time And The Photography Of Ruins
We read on the surfaces of buildings the accretions of time. The photographic portrayal of ruins offers a way to reflect on the ravages of time, and show the imprint of time. Once buildings lose their original purpose they become subject to the influence of obsolescence, invasions, re-appropriations, renovations and economic transformations, forces of nature, neglect and gentrification. Invasions by nature once formed the aesthetic of early photography of ruins. Today photographers are more concerned with changing economic fortunes, re-appropriations and the marks made by political violence. In depicting this broad terrain, contemporary photographers have offered new insights into our understandings of the forces that have shaped our built environment, and of the subtleties of photographic representation itself. Tracing the history of photographs of ruins, this article sketches the aesthetics of early architectural photographs of ruins and the changing context and approaches adopted by photographers in relation to them.