Some of the Robert Brook photographs of industrial ruins do seem to describe and convey a history and invite one to wonder  not only about what lies beyond, but what was. (i.e. in “Gateway to Ruins of Former Brewery”). What’s striking is that many of these photographs could have been taken almost anywhere, perhaps revealing a very similar history. Abandoned manufacturing sites and bleak industrial landscapes across rivers or from a highway could just as easily speak of a history of social and economic decay in the U.S. and in so many other parts of the ‘advanced’ industrialized (or deindustrialized) world. Perhaps most jarring  is that this vision of that world seems lifeless.

Also looked at the shared link to Detroit photographs. These colorful images reveal there is still some life amidst the ruins. Latour notes that objects have a role to play in the social – to tell a story, (i.e. ‘”express power relations…reinforce social inequalities…”‘)  Viewing these two collections of photographs reveals their ability to convey much about the present and the past.