Reclaiming Abandoned Spaces: Nature as a Tool of Transformation

Image: Leblon, Serge, "Everything On the Line".
ELLE Magazine. April 2011: p. 310. Print.

I chose this photographic image because it shows the gradual decay of abandoned buildings and the ways in which we as humans change an environment and then neglect it once it's use has been served. The current economic crisis has led to thousands of abandoned buildings and spaces where the natural environment was bulldozed and covered by cement parking lots and structures. This level of abandonment can be seen in rural and urban areas plighted by unemployment and neglect.

In this piece I hope to show how nature can reclaim these abandoned spaces, and how humans can reintroduce native plants and vegetation to aid this transformation through the creation of community gardens where people of all ages can commune with nature. The central figure in my image is transformed from an apathetic model to a young girl examining the roots of a plant she has pulled, bridging my images from one of inaction to one of action.

- Carolyn