DarkBuilding is a collaboration between Dennis Gordon and
Alex Woodhouse - a.k.a. Diablo and Diabla. This site represents a selection of work from over a decade of exploration and
adventure, both independently and together
DENNIS:
I've been drawn to abandoned buildings all my life. When I became a New York City firefighter in 1978, entering and navigating vacant structures became both a full-time job and a passion. Around the same time, I moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, surrounded by blocks of vacant tenements. Despite the dangers, I spent much time exploring these urban ruins.
Over time, I fell in love with turn-of-the-century industries: mills, warehouses, foundries, loft buildings and factories. This also included former institutions such as asylums, prisons, schools and hospitals. And also foreclosed homes.
As I started photographing these emptied spaces throughout the U.S., I found myself feeling comfortable in the midst of neglect and decay. The abandonment, loneliness, and isolation inside the structures grounded me. I discovered an escape from the boredom of inhabited spaces, growing lost within the wealth of bygone architecture and design. Here, I feel like I’m participating in some grand installation of living art. The decay is dynamic – the interiors always evolving. New levels of rust and mold, brick disintegrating and nature slowly prevailing. Where some people see eyesores, I see the labor of architects, craftsmen, and assemblymen using complex machinery built as durably as the products it made. To me, each building tells a story from our past, and collectively, the story of our present – an era of greed when everything--from architecture to wares to art--is disposable, replaceable.
ALEX:
I have been exploring abandoned, forbidden and neglected places since childhood. The attraction has always been motivated by a desire for space totally stripped of pretense. A guarantee of authenticity and a way to combat uncertainty. In these buildings, the inevitability of nature is on display, and human kind's place in the universe put in clear perspective as time and the elements erode our creations. No matter the scale or the genius of a structure or its contents, the wonder of nature is always revealed as it evolves back to its original state. In some cases, the timeframe of such extreme reversals is strikingly short, revealing how much will humankind must exert on our surroundings to facilitate "progress."
My desire is not only to capture these places, but to reveal a narrative, both around what once took place there, and what has happened since.