Abandoned Washington, D.C.: Evanescent Chronicles

Photographs of empty spaces provide us with an alternative view of the world without us. The images of empty spaces that were once lively capture a departure from our norms and instead project alternative realities emptied of our presence. In Washington, D.C., a province rich with our nation’s history, anything abandoned is either hastily torn down, tagged, or senselessly vandalized. Still, some forlorn structures remain and hold timeless beauty, or better yet, have a second chance at life along with the preservation of history. The author’s collection of abandonments, forgotten or repurposed, includes several historic schools, a famous psychiatric hospital, a veterans’ home, some industrial sites, and a few artful public statements about our society. Additionally, she includes the surreal deserted representation of Washington, D.C., in the time of COVID-19. With streets devoid of its usual grid-locked traffic and pedestrians, haunting images of familiar places become unfamiliar. Like a collection of abandoned photos, Washington D.C.‘s surroundings, only recently integral to daily habits, now seem fragile and tenuous. Washington, D.C.’s deserted public spaces expose the new and sudden solitary human condition amplified beyond the silence of the environment.