Ruins and Elephants

Photograph copyright Shaun O'Boyle

I'd like to turn your attention to one of the links I've added to the fancy new left sidebar - the Modern Ruins. An amazing collection of photographic essay's by architect and photographer Shaun O'boyle...

"Ruins capture the imagination with their ability to tell stories, the rich language of architecture opens a window to the past, a poetry of architectural spaces, structures and found objects capture past events and offers them to the keen observer."

I might add that ruins might tell their tale not as much by what is there as by what is not. The ruin itself can only give hints, the stories act through what is missing. It's all the things that not there which leaves space for the imagination to take posession of the place, and thus the stories play. A game with the minds wish to make a whole picture.

My favorite essay is the Boatyard (the elephants graveyeard) . It was beyond my imagination that such a fantastic place existed. I'm not sure, but I believe this boatyard is around New Orleans... so it might not be very around anymore. Lets hope for the best. Especially for the part of the city that wasn't in ruins before.




Photograph copyright Shaun O'Boyle