Retail Monoliths
For the longest time, driving down roads in Tucson, it’s very common you’d see some abandoned buildings. The ones that have interested me the most, are the ones that have been previously “inhabited” by big-box retailers. These companies have packed up and left, whether it was by choice or not. These buildings stand still, acting as these sort of monuments in time, waiting for the next retailer to spruce up and start new. With my images, I wanted to capture these spaces in the daytime & nighttime, illustrating that as the days go by and the world around it changes, these monuments stand silent and freeze time. To further this point of freezing time, I took objects from the parking lots and places them around the images to mimic “artifacts” found in the rubble of the ruins. These places have history, many of these stores might have had different names before, and maybe some will have new names in the future. Photographing these places as “time past”, it starts to speak on childhood memories. Memories of the people local to the area, but even beyond that. These places transport me to a time where the only care in the world was, “Which toy do I wanna beg my mom to get me, knowing it’ll be an immediate no”. These life-less spaces hold countless memories that will live on through time, even as the buildings start to crumble. I’m not entirely sure what to call these spaces, you can hardly call these “stores” anymore, and reducing them to just “buildings erases the rich personal history these places might have. For now, as we live on through this conversation of space & time, I’ll call these Retail Monoliths
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