I recently teased a couple of my friends about their tendency to only take family vacations in decaying, rust belt cities. Granted the fact that the Great Lakes and rust belt cities are the professional interest and personal passion of one of them, it makes some sense. Still, I went on and on extolling the virtues of a warm beach vacation and how good it is for the soul, a position I still stand by.
Fast forward to this weekend when I was editing and sorting my photos from our warm beach vacation to Puerto Rico. What did I find?
Vacancy!
While I took my fair share of palm trees and beach shots, I can’t ignore that a huge bunch of my photos are of the broken down, vine-covered ruins of former island homes and businesses.
So, to my friends Anthony and Kristin–I get it.
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Teresa - I think visiting ruins of all kinds are one of the major ways most people spend vacations. Whether it is the rubble of the Colisuem or the brownfields of Cleveland there are stories to be told, losses to be recognized, and always that search to recognize our common humanity wherever in the world we go. For all the tragedy of the decaying or fading corners of our cities or our societies there is a beauty there as well. Only natural it would draw artists of all kinds (and for all that Anthony may appear to be a brilliant, wonky urban planner, he is in his way as much an artist as any architect or novelist).