Thursday, August 6, 2009

ASYLUM IN RUINS


Over the past two years I’ve been photographing the land and wildlife in the Old Colony Orchard, across the street from Asylum Lake Preserve, sandwiched between Drake Road and US 131. 


My fascination rests in the decay, ruin and regeneration of the property, both ecologically and archeologically, and particularly the way wildlife adapts and even thrives in this environment. I've always seen the orchard as the orphaned child of Asylum Lake Preserve, separated at birth by Drake Road and an unclear future. 

 

The title for this body of work is “Asylum in Ruins”, a double entendre that plays on the idea of asylums, both human and animal, in a state of decay or neglect, as well as the capacity for wildlife (and humans) to find asylum or sanctuary in the ruins of old and discarded properties.