- Iwan Goll
My iPhone is always a pocket away from a photo. I'm not even kidding. I mean, sure, I take photos of meals (because this is what Instagram is for, yes? What do you mean NO!), Mr3 and Mr9 doing cutesy things, books I'm reading, people doing THINGS and STUFF and, as ever, decay. That sounds odd but I find beauty and comfort in buildings/parks/grounds/objects that are old, unused, forgotten, and falling apart. If I had to pinpoint why, I think it'd be because they have character. They have a story. They have LIVED and been a part of lives. And half the attraction for me is making up a backstory for what that may have looked like.
Imagine my delight to find that New Orleans was a city full of exactly this on every street, at every corner, in every building (and person). I remember telling someone recently (sitting on a patio in Parkes, NSW as the sun set, surrounded by well-travelled and highly articulate people and feeling a little like Alice down the rabbit hole) that it was a city of "faded beauty." Beauty in Decay II captures all of those feels (even if it's not about New Orleans in particular) and, I think, expands on it a little. Chillery takes the time to dig a little into some of the places photographed and, every now and then, makes up little stories about what could have happened there. Maybe that makes me somewhat of a romantic. I can deal with that.
Title: Beauty in decay II
Author: Photography by RomanyWG and essays by Polly Chillery
Published: Carpet Bombing Culture, 2012
