Recent Projects: The Arsenal of Democracy

Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus 
“We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes"

      This is the motto of the city of Detroit. I chose this place as a vantage point to observe what I felt to be the fulcrum of vast transitions that have occurred in our country over the last half-century. The city of Detroit was at one time the fourth largest city in the US. With a peak population of over two million people in 1960 and one of the most powerful economies in the nation no one could have foreseen the forces that would lead to the flight of its inhabitants or the architectural legacy they would leave behind. One of the most striking things one observes upon viewing the city is the sheer ambition of the early architects and designers. Everywhere there are grand boulevards and granite archways. This was truly one of the great cities not just of our nation but of the world. 
      Now at the turn of a new century Detroit stands as a forgotten city. A place with just under half of its original populace. There are a number of staggering statistics that describe the Detroit of today:

• The current population is 960,000 (down from 2,000,000)
• Over eighty percent of this population is African-American
  
  

• There are over a dozen abandoned skyscrapers in Detroit
• Detroit has over 36,000 abandoned structures

     These numbers cannot begin to describe the sense of desolation this city sometimes demonstrates. There were many occasions when I would stand still and realize that I was the lone person on a main street in the downtown core. I would look to my left and see a majestic building lying in rot. On my right would be another ruin and down the way I could make out more towering abandonments as I looked out over the skyline. I often felt that I was seeing the first crack in the walls of a crumbling empire. It is my attempt with this work to illuminate the story of this great city and invite us as a nation to reflect on the fate of its populace. 
     This project began one day when I was asked what used to be on a vacant lot on my street. It was then that I realized that I could not remember. I felt that my vision was being occluded and I wanted to see what was behind the curtain. I was asleep. This work has been my attempt to wake up. I believe that there is more to learn from what people leave behind than from what they keep. Because of this I hope to use these abandonments as a lens through which to view the human spirit.