Decay Porn and Urban Spelunking: Baby, Spread Those Windows Wide Broken.

(Found in an abandoned/burned out house. Photo Credit: Chris Wood)

It's hard to deny the amount of wreckage in Detroit. Leave Campus Martius in any direction and it seems like every other building is burned out and/or unoccupied. Pieces of walls and shards of glass surround whatever building has fallen into a coma. Each one of these buildings help Detroit look like it has taken a blow from a giant shotgun, making it easy to see how people could easily mistake decaying buildings for a decaying city. Photographer Sean Hemmerle did a splendid job of making Detroit look like a ghost town with his The Remains of Detroit photo essay he shot for TIME magazine. Thus, making Hemmerle the Hugh Hefner of Decay Porn.

 

Decay Porn--the act of photographing, glorifying, and being aroused by wreckage and  abandoned buildings--is a new form of pornography. Detroit is a goldmine for Decay Pornographers such as Hemmerle.

So, instead of scoffing at the idea of only focusing on Detroit's decaying buildings, I decided to focus on how decay actually helps. Here it goes: Detroit needs people to occupy its borders. It needs people to shop, eat, lounge, and, most importantly, visit, for without this, the city cannot breathe. People are the red blood cells of a living economy, and as such, we need to carry as much oxygen to Detroit as possible. And if one of Detroit's main attractions is super-sexy broken windows and bikini waxed buildings, stripped of everything they once had brings people to the city, then more power to it. Decay pornographers: bring it on.

I then decided to indulge in the dirty world of Decay Porn. I phoned my friend Chris (the photo credit guy), hopped on 75 (right after a quick Tim Horton's breakfast), and headed into the city. To begin, we started with the Jenna Jameson of Decay Porn: Michigan Central Station. Just like Jameson, this place has done it all. From amateur decay porn photo shoots, to full on Michael Bay-style porn. Here is the station today:

(Michigan Central Station, looking raunchy as ever. Photo Credit: Chris Wood)

The building, despite the broken windows and crappy graffiti, is beautiful. The architecture can keep eyes busy for days. I have to admit, decay porn is kind of cool. Here's a naughty closeup:

(Beautifully crafted eye candy. Photo Credit: Chris Wood)

We left the train station and made it about two blocks before finding our next hussy. Just around the corner was an old burned out house. However, while this house was burned out and provocatively decaying, someone (or some people) chose this house as their canvas. The house, probably inspired by the Heidelberg Project, was covered with art:

(Just around the corner from Michigan Central Station, this find was hot. Photo Credit: Chris Wood)

Turned on by the missing doors, we decided to enter: urban spelunking. We found more art, and it was beautiful. We were almost as exited as this guy. 

(Buildings, painted cleverly inside of the abandoned house. Photo Credit: Chris Wood)

This house is a perfect metaphor for Detroit: beautiful art and incredible things to see surrounded by destruction. Despite the houses risqué condition, we were still excited to see everything it had to offer. 

Let's take, for example, San Francisco, a beautiful city on an incredible bay. This city would be lucky to have a few flirtatiously fragmented buildings to photograph. If we were to visit San Francisco, we would know going into the city that we would see interesting things: cool art, fun things to do, etc. Knowing it exists takes away some of the thrill. Detroit is just like the house pictured above. Outsiders looking in only notice charred ash, broken glass, and a manipulative ex-mayor. However, step inside Detroit and one finds a whole world of beauty. This type of hidden art is infinitely more thrilling to discover. Those who are able to look past shattered windows and splintered wood will find a city sitting up after being knocked down. 

So, Decay Pornographers, bring your tight pants and fancy cameras and come to the city and photograph the titillating train station, and when you're done, eat at Slow's BBQ just around the corner, and help Rescue Detroit. 

(More art from the house mentioned earlier. Photo Credit: Chris Wood)