Many photographers have been drawn to Detroit in recent years. One blogger who isn't shy about posting images of what has transpired in this once great American city has perhaps had second thoughts and has (hypocritically) used the term Detroit Porn. I've taken some pictures of the abandoned or burned out wrecks of residential and commercial structures that occupy much of this forlorn blight-ridden city, but probably won't do more because this vein has been fairly well mined by others, among them George Bower. George is a retired physician and inveterate photographer of the urban disaster that is Detroit; and I have been fortunate to be on his e-mail distribution list for about 3 years. As I went through my files to select some of his images for this post, I was struck by his fantastic eye for color and for graphic detail. On the other hand, I experienced an actual wave of nausea on being confronted by these images of what has happened to the city that I knew and for which I had so much affection 6o years ago--not such a long time in terms of urban history-- which, in itself, is a lesson about the vulnerability of our urban environments. Here is a sample of some of Georges images which effectively depict what I have chosen to call Detroitification. I suspect that Detroit is only the harbinger-- the first and best known of American cities where the decay and ruin is so wide-spread that it is beyond reclamation.
These images have been posted with the kind permission of the creator and copyright holder George Bower. Please direct any questions about them to bannis4@centurtely.net.
Byron
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