Material / Image Research Lab (MIRL)

There was a very powerful and disturbing photo essay in the Guardian recently about Detroit as an abandoned city.  The photographers, Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, visited theaters, libraries, churches, and office buildings that are in varying states of decay.  In some cases they appear to have been evacuated in hasty and mysterious ways, as furniture, papers and books are strewn about and vandalized.  The photos  have a  sad and shocking impact, and are a sober comment on the effects of demographic and economic shifts.

The article is here, and the photo gallery is here.