Hasta La Ideas

Photographer Kevin Bauman’s “100 Abandoned Houses” project showed the empty domiciles of Detroit, but French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre have gone further: Their photo book The Ruins of Detroit is far more chilling because it displays the disintegration of livelihood at every level. It’s one thing to see empty houses, but Marchand and Meffre’s shots show abandoned banks, train stations, dentist’s offices, police stations, ballrooms, hotels, schools, churches and more.

Over the past generation Detroit has suffered economically worse than any other of the major American cities and its rampant urban decay is now glaringly apparent during this current recession. Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre documented this disintegration, showcasing structures that were formerly a source of civic pride, and which now stand as monuments to the city’s fall from grace.

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