CNN turns its baleful gaze upon malls, and deems their decline to be an
Autopsy of America
Why is this economic event a morbid thing? Listen to the article's language:
Dead shopping malls are a sad sight.
"It's the human decay that troubles me the most," says photographer Seph Lawless... He calls his project an "autopsy of America." [hence the CNN article's title]
"The most bizarre was seeing gun shots all over one mall," he said, remembering his visit to Rolling Acres Mall in Ohio. "Shattered glass sky lights and store fronts."
And
"I think we are facing a very frightening time in American history, so I want my images to scare people," said Lawless. "I hope people see my images and see the beginning of the end of the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen... America."
Interestingly, the CNN piece goes beyond this point to introduce a competing, even sunny vision. Several mall gurus speak of how well malls are doing, especially where there are lots of rich people and few poor ones. If Piketty is right about where the American economy is going, we should expect more of this: oligarchy Gothic.
Infocult has been following mall decay for a while, observing ruins, the triumph of fish, a ghost mall, a research project, and your own ghostly role.
(thanks to Todd Bryant for the link; photo by Aaron)
Alongside the ghostly indoor malls are the abandoned strip malls; I did some photos of ones just east of Mesa Community College, in AZ. These are not even very old structures and a waste they sit empty.
Posted by: twitter.com/cogdog | July 19, 2014 at 00:47
Like this one, http://infocult.typepad.com/infocult/2009/09/you-are-the-reason-for-the-empty-spaces.html ?
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | July 19, 2014 at 08:58
Share a URL or more, Alan!
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | July 19, 2014 at 08:58