DETROIT:
FIELD NOTES FROM A WILD CITY
is part of my research project ⟶ The New Wild. It documents the city’s current landscape shaped by the American Dream and its postindustrial reality.
The book was designed by Ina Kwon and published by ⟶ Spector Books.
It was nominated for Rencontres d’Arles Book Awards 2021 and Schönste Deutsche Bücher 2022
⟶ find out more: Detroit Blog
East Ferry Street, 2015: This picture shows empty lots in the Poletown East neighborhood. Everlasting pea and spotted knapweed bloom in front of a black pine and poplars in the background. While I was taking pictures, a neighbor mowed the lawn of his front garden.
Rugs lying on an abandoned field aside from the former Fisher Body Plant 21, 2015
Elderberry Trees growing in recycled paper tubes at Beaverland Farms, 2016
“Deindustrialization does not just happen.
Conscious decisions have to be made by corporate managers to move a factory from one location to another, to buy up a going concern or to dispose of one, or to shutdown a facility altogether. … The planning behind such decisions is usually intricate, often costly, and extensive.”
Harry Bluestone; Bennet Harrison (1982).
The Deindustrialization of America, 15
908 Clay Street, 2015: This corner lot is about a mile from downtown Detroit.
In 2009, a typical brick building was demolished here. Ever since, water has been leaking from the sewer system. Over the years a wetland area with common reed and different willows has developed. The unhindered water leakages from uninhabited properties are in stark contrast to the water shutoffs hitting Detroit residents.
5972 Canton Street
(Burnt Down House), 2015
14409 Burgess Street
(Pray Hope and Don’t Worry), 2016
“You can look at a vacant lot and instead of seeing devastation, see hope.
See the opportunity to grow your own food … A vacant lot represents the possibilities for cultural revolution.”
Grace Lee Boggs (2011) in an interview with Democracy Now!
I-94 Renaissance Park (Marcus Street), 2016
Lacinato Kale at Oakland Avenue Urban Farm, 2016
Sweet Squash growing at Emily’s veranda, one of the Bandhu Gardens, 2018
Guerrilla Garden, 2016
“When urban farming gets talked about it gets presented as a new thing.
But people have been farming here for a long time. … So in that sense, agriculture in this area is not new – what is new is the city.”
Shane Bernardo, at the Earthworks Urban Farm in 2016
Detroit: Field Notes from a Wild City (Artist Book)