Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Urban Flowers 2 - An Abstract Study of American Infrastructure

I usually will walk everywhere I go.  True, it does take longer to travel from one point to another, but then again I see more that I otherwise would if I were traveling by vehicle.

I saw this scene late in the morning while I was walking home from the supermarket, and I was struck by the irony and symbolism it represented.  

 Urban Flowers 2
© Mark Eaton

It seems society will build big and great things, but then move on to some other project without giving much thought to the necessity of maintaining that which was previously built.  The decaying and collapsing infrastructure is very representative of the collapsing American society.  The same can be said of relationships, too, in my opinion.

Without maintaining and nurturing, the collapse will be complete...then, in a manner of speaking, everyone will be walking.  Since nature abhors a vacuum, I doubt the new structure and relationships that will fill the void will be palatable to many Americans.  This is represented by the flowers that are growing in the decay -- though beautiful, they are not indigenous to any single place in the state of Arizona.  Additionally, the plant is an annual, not a perennial.  I know that my preference for living the life of an expat is strongly represented in this study.  As I picked up the plastic bags of groceries, I couldn't help but laugh at the irony.

The tears didn't arrive until I processed the image in the dry darkroom.