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a wondrous adventure to a most otherWorldly place.
(each image clicks to a separate set of images for your viewing pleasure!)
last Sunday i had the opportunity to explore an amazing brandNew area (for me) - one that i had been warned was “too dangerous” and i had never been able to find, even when i was feeling brave and rebellious. i was accompanied, so don’t worry! (even though it didn’t feel a bit creepy) i was completely enchanted. my imagination was in overdrive and by the end of a few hours, my eyeballs were literally aching. i think i may be reaching the end of making images that are purely glamorized documentations. this place made me long for more movement, more habitation - fragmentary and sheer people, garments and cloth, tiny elephants - something. i wanted to make visual stories. somehow.
i’m pretty sure i want to live there, in the Bottoms, in Kansas City. oh no. i’m not kidding.
next step. going IN.
20090212 7:59 am
Wonderful photos.
What a place. Is it really abandoned? Or does it just look like it is? It’s an amazing artifact.
Have you been to Holyoke (MA)? You would love the abandoned mills. Just get there before they get all gentrified…
20090213 10:15 am
hi jennifer,
despite appearances, i think there was much more activity and industry going on in those buildings than i might imagine. it was a very quiet day though…
i would love to see those abandoned mills!!!! oh!
20090215 5:04 pm
awesome series!
20090219 8:06 am
The West Bottoms is a great place for photos. I will tell you that even on a weekday, it’s pretty much empty. I have been there alone and I have never encountered anyone who was even the slightest big frightening. I doubt that I’ll ever be brave enough to go inside, though. But the next time you’re in KC, stop by that old building that you can see off I-35 at about Cambridge Circle, in that area. If you know where Ponacks is, on southwest blvd., you can pull into the parking lot there and wander around back behind to get some shots. You will love it, I promise. There’s also some really good places east of downtown on Independence Blvd and 12th Street, but those areas can be dangerous. . . so go with someone and go in the daytime. Way out that way there’s junkyard that’s a good picture place, but I doubt I’ll ever find it back. Also on 12th street there’s a recycling center and it’s a wonderland for grungy things. If you move to the bottoms, I will be very jealous.
20090221 7:42 am
thanks debra!
mary, i probably *won’t* *really* move there … but man … sometimes i am so tempted to make a new and strange life. i am pretty sure i have been to that old building behind Ponaks! i was with a friend and we wanted to walk around, but there were a few cars of single geezers seemingly engaged in disreputable activities, so we just did a pretty quick driveby shooting. i thought they would have torn it down by now, but i will check again!