“The Ruins of Detroit” is the first book by the two French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Mefree. A touching look into the pain and beauty of Detroit and its difficulty history.
This series of photographs explores the dilapidated shells of early 20th century architectural gems and because the economic state of Detroit has suffered along with that of the automotive industry, properties are being abandoned rather than maintained due to a lack of financial investment in the area.
Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre began to get interested in ruins as photographers in 2001. After they met each other in 2002, they started making a systematic record of ruins and changing urban landscape around Paris, then, further in France, Belgium, England, Spain and Italy. Visiting these places made them more sensitive to the rarity and uniqueness of the historic buildings, especially those built in the 19th and 20th centuries, sadly neglected and often threatened.
In 2005 they decided to go to Detroit where ruins were no longer something anecdotic in the city, it was simply a logical part of the landscape. They both started to work using only one camera. While photographing, each don’t have a predefined role, they share their ideas until finding the “ideal” spot.
They made their first exhibition “Les fabuleuses ruines de Detroit” in June 2006 and then they came back to Detroit several times within the following five years to complete their work on the city.
“RUINS OF DETROIT”
Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: Steidl
Language: English
Dimensions: 14.6 x 11.6 x 1.2 inches
To see more of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre´s work please go to www.marchandmeffre.com
