AfterCulture: Jerry Herron Captures the "Humiliation of History"

One of Kevin Bauman's 100 Abandoned Houses photographed in Detroit.

I'm devouring AfterCulture: Detroit and the Humiliation of History by Jerry Herron and finding many disturbing parallels with Flint in the various essays. And although it was published in 1993, it's depressing how many of the ideas and observations in the book still hold true today.

"It’s as if the country needs a Detroit to go uniquely wrong in order to make clearer and simpler — by comparison — the otherwise baffling work of going right. This is the site, or the symbol, that makes consensus once more seem possible for Americans, whom differences of all kinds have driven apart. Outside of war, or some sort of national emergency, it’s hard to imagine anything — especially anything domestic and urban — that people could agree on and get behind, except, perhaps, for the wish to keep 'Detroit' from happening to the place where they live."

100 Views

Photographer Kevin Bauman has created a hauntingly beautiful photo essay that captures 100 abandoned houses in Detroit.

He writes: "I have developed an interest in the interaction between man and environment. Whether the urban decay associated with Detroit, or the mountains of the western United States, my focus has been and continues to be on the landscape. My landscapes, however, do not always reflect the idyllic scene most often portrayed by the traditional landscape photograph or painting, but ranges from serene Lake Superior sunsets to chaotic post-industrial landscapes of urban Detroit."

The collection reminds me of Andō Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, a series of woodcuts depicting Tokyo as an economic and cultural power in the 18th century. Bauman is depicting a once-great city as it desperately tries to survive. Despite the wildly different circumstances, both artists capture a sense of pride that permeates each place.

(Photos courtesy of www.hiroshige.org.uk and www.kevinbauman.com)