Obvious Unseen: Landscapes of Efficiency and Decay, 2009
Gum bichromate photography on cotton rag paper
The grain elevator was one of those pivotal industrial achievements that drastically shaped the landscape—but whose importance is largely forgotten. Stripped of their functionality and in a state of decay, urban grain elevators take on an almost transparent quality. These photographs, which I took in my hometown of Buffalo, NY come from a desire to document and to understand the nature of this transparency; how these immense structures have become a part of the unnoticed world of concrete—the ever shrinking space between destinations.
The grain elevator was one of those pivotal industrial achievements that drastically shaped the landscape—but whose importance is largely forgotten. Stripped of their functionality and in a state of decay, urban grain elevators take on an almost transparent quality. These photographs, which I took in my hometown of Buffalo, NY come from a desire to document and to understand the nature of this transparency; how these immense structures have become a part of the unnoticed world of concrete—the ever shrinking space between destinations.