Abandonment

The title of my creative independent project is ‘abandonment’. I’ve always been drawn to the apocalyptic/overgrown aesthetic of town and cities in different medias. My main inspiration that I looked into first, to do with this theme was the PlayStation game ‘The Last Of Us’. The game begins with a zombie outbreak and the main character (Joel) loses his daughter: 20 years pass and within these his brother leaves him, and he loses more people.

‘The Last Of Us’ is a game filled with loss and ‘abandonment’ not only within the storyline but also with the game design –hence I see it as a huge inspiration for my project. Other medias I have been inspired by based off the game/soundtracks are ‘Everybody’s gone to the rapture’ and ‘Life is Strange’.I find my theme intriguing since ‘abandonment’ can come in many forms, whether it be in people or buildings and even when something has been left for a long while, I find beauty in their history and remains.

For example, in my work you will see sparks of vibrant colours where nature has begun to accompany and envelop these historical buildings and I find that beautiful. A new life growing within an old building and using it as a support and even a home –an interesting an example of nature reclaiming architecture.Abandonment is carried through multiple stages of these structures.

The building is first left to get old, and rot away as do the people who used it. After so long these people eventually pass away and although of course people go and visit graves, majority of the time the passed person is there, they are left alone. Linking well with the theme of my project, I also find it interesting how in a graveyard there are so many abandoned bodies all together in comfortable distance from one another, yet each still having that cloud of loneliness above them.

Finally, with the buildings in which I have photographed, they all look relatively similar in the way they are derelict, but we have to remember the history and story they carry along with them.