In my research for #houseparadox I went to photograph the abandoned bungalow in West Cliff Gardens. The light was very flat and it was spitting with rain. The bungalow sits in a barely-kept-under garden, and holds its secrets well. Why is it empty? Does a cat live there, climbing the net curtains? Who are the owners? Why is an empty property allowed to be kept empty for over 30 years when there is an acute housing shortage? This shot is definitely just work in progress.
I really like the angular eroded surfaces and subtle greys here and the way the blackish green of the ivy 'reads' so strongly against the peeling pale blue wooden garage door. There's a parched and unstable strangeness about this shot which is almost an abstraction of a building in decline; satisfying rectangular shapes with a little dynamism from the arch. Interesting how a photographer/artist can make an ordinary bit of a building have so much visual interest!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. The building is showing many signs of decay and of human intervention too. I enjoy the subtle colours, the repetition of shapes and the diagonals stopped with uprights.
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