Existence Abandoned

American photographer Lori Nix (b. 1969) shoots fading libraries, abandoned hair salons, neglected classrooms, empty bars and silent shops in her series The City (2005-2015). However, Nix has not actually visited these locations; instead, she has meticulously crafted the scenery in miniature form in her New York apartment. Lighting, scale and space are all carefully balanced to recreate the world on a tabletop. The final images capture a stand-off between urban materiality and the realm of the natural. Overflowing with minute detail, each photograph features the remnants of human existence, revealing a forgotten newspaper on a train carriage, an array of vibrant trainers on a shelf or some pickled items in a biology study room. For this apocalyptic collection, Nix imagined a city of the future where an ominous force has driven the location’s inhabitants out, reflecting her concerns regarding our thoughtless destruction of the environment. www.lorinix.net.