Sunday, December 7, 2014

Life in vacant spaces

Christchurch 2014. At first glance you see a ghost town created by an economic bubble/crash. Boarded windows, letters bursting out of abandoned offices. Or you see a war zone, maybe one you have  imagined or seen on TV. A concrete and tiled staircase leading to nowhere. Twisted metal poles pressing through brick and concrete rubble. But then you urbex. Yes, I am claiming it as a verb. You step onto the vacant lots that were high rising bastions to enterprise. You trespass, but let's face it that's the only way. And around every corner, in every nook and all over every cranny, there is art. Initiative, hope, respect, expression of grief, optimism, sadness and again, hope. Art. Street Art. Urban landscape. This is Christchurch 2014.