This work examines how we engage with spaces created by perpetual change and the state of being “between”: Between eras, between spaces, between jobs, between moments. Neglect, decay, industrialization, financial difficulties, overcrowding, the Covid pandemic, and the human imperative to “develop, leave and then repurpose” have created a myriad of “between” spaces whose functions adapt to our times. Abandoned warehouses become schools and museums, empty lots await their next assignment, defunct railroad tracks and terrain inhospitable for private development become public parks, recreational spaces, and elevated walkways. Open public spaces become temporary classrooms and auditoriums.
Thoroughfares are modernized, creating walkways and islands for those needing to stop, rest, chat, or check messages. Sidewalk sheds and scaffolding become unsanctioned shelters and bookshelves for the unhoused. Private properties may be neglected, their unkempt stillness a poignant reminder of the tussle between nature and progress. But they endure, at least until the next adaptation. These spaces bridge our past to our present and shape our future in ways yet unimagined.
By examining transitional spaces---however mundane, messy, or dilapidated---I’ve learned that beauty can be found in the banal. I ponder the jagged history of these places and what may have brought them to their current state. These thoughts are embedded within my photographs in details that don’t immediately reveal themselves. I hope that viewers will linger and discover them because finding beauty in the commonplace allows us to affirm something truthful about the world as we find it rather than how we wish it would, or think it should, be.