Urban Decay

I decided that my first piece in this series would focus on the decay which besets disused buildings and industrial sites. Many old brick and stone factories and storehouses can be found in many cities and these are often just left to decay and fall down over the years.

In this piece I combined my impressions of a number of old buildings in my town, some discoloured by age and with broken and dirty windows. Often plants grow on and around the decaying stones , which in my mind seems to indicate that decay also includes new beginnings.

For the large building, I used breakdown-printed fabric overprinted with window shapes. The fabric is cut into an irregular shape to indicate its missing parts, and a broken window formed from an old book page to indicate that the building has a story.  I machine quilted vague stone shapes around the windows and printed fabric. I used painted Tissuetex for the second building, and silk paper printed with painted Bondaweb to form a broken-down wall at its front. I added printed tissue paper in the background to suggest other decaying buildings. The pole and the broken wires are couched down and the plants and other details are hand stitched.

Detail views: