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Haunted Landscapes Final Exhibition 

By: Jordan Howes

Quite often we catch glimpses of abandoned machinery and equipment tucked away in the corners of the world around us, and when curiosity leads us to explore, we notice the rust set in and the weeds consuming the once operational hardware now home in the nature around it. These explorations turn up provoking thoughts about the historical stories left behind by these aging artifacts that commonly are never discovered and told due to unknown eerie histories.

Trigg (2006) believes time and space are contributing factors to the aesthetic of decay, and if reason is absent in the exploration of abandoned machinery such as figure 1 and figure 2 than its story is not destroyed but lost throughout time. Applying reasoning to the spatial context of exploration discoveries establishes an understanding that embody the rationale for abandonment (Trigg, 2006). “Our history is in the whispers that surround us, and the tales passed on from those who came before” (RomanyWG, 2010), this quotation encompasses the idea that history is stored in all the corners and cracks of the world and if there is no reasoning/meaning behind the abandon machinery and artifacts those tales and stories become lost in the past. Figure 1 and figure 2 shows a trailer and tractor being consumed by rust, planted in an unfamiliar field that holds a story that a random passerby would never get to know. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Though one could invent their own story of how an abandoned trailer and tractor came to be lost in the wilderness around it, such as that this trailer transported prize horses back and forth from events, or that this tractor belonged to a family of farmers that used it to tend to their farms in order to make money to put food on their tables. Garrett (2011) examines the idea that pasts are constructed through experiences, memories, spontaneous encounters, and mythmaking; and this idea ties into Trigg (2006) belief that if there is no reasoning behind discovered artifacts then we can conclude that their (artifacts) stories are lost in time.

Figure 3

Figure 3 is a piece of farm machinery that has been discarded in an open field that can be seen from a passing car. The idea of this artifact catching someone’s eye as they rush home from work to start dinner for their family leaves an important sentiment that when we get caught up in our busy everyday lives we forget to step back and view the history that is present around us.

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Most abandoned artifacts like old machinery and equipment are found deep in the forests left behind and tucked away in random fields that have been untouched for many years. Whether these artifacts have been left behind by humans, botanical or animal intervention, the mere action of these objects being discarded is unavoidable (Garrett, 2011). Society takes for granted the history that belongs to the discarded objects that catch your eye between the trees of a forest, because seemingly the past will always echo into the future as we are left to accept and overcome the failures of those before us leading us to a potential better future (Arboleda, 2018).

Figure 4

Figure 4 was located a few yards from figure 3. To my surprise there were many tire rims scattered across the field but no vehicle to be seen, which left me thinking of what story could be told by this scene laid out before me. Why were the old farming equipment left in a random field to collect rust? Why are there multiple tire rims dispersed across the land? Who possessed these artifacts and when were they dated back in our history?

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Figure 5 shows an abandoned storage unit tucked away behind shrubs and trees as well as a wired fence making the exploration of this artifact difficult to reach. Although I wasn’t able to observe the artifact up close to further inspect the story it could tell, I was able to identify the decay that this unit has been reduced too. Not pictured were the many different objects that laid with the unit, one being an old rickety wooden chair that I can only assume wouldn’t hold the weight of the history this scene imprisons itself with. With the paint peeling off like bark on a dying tree I only wish I could understand the story of how this large storage unit came to be trapped behind the overgrown landscape around it.

Figure 5

As explorers we often glaze over the honour it is to discover and be present with artifacts from years ago, and don’t respect the understanding that we are sharing time with these objects that were once somebody’s possession (Garrett, 2011). Trigg (2006) believes that if this spatial configuration and idea align together then a bond can be established and be described as intimate and necessary. Artifacts like farming equipment, vehicles, and other machinery provide realistic glimpses into what the industrial world looked like years before and provides us with a sense of privilege to understand how society has evolved and advanced from where we stood many years ago. These exploring moments of abandoned artifacts creates present and past encounters that lead to recollections of what history held for society (Garrett, 2011).

“Decay is not supposed to be beautiful. Decay is rot, and entropy, death, failure, unclean, diseased and absent of meaning” (RomanyWG, 2010)

Figure 6 captures the scene of an abandoned truck from the early 50’s. This truck is confined to a forest/farmland in West Lorne, the picture catches the characteristics of the natural elements that this old machinery has been through over the many years it lays inhabited. The truck is being consumed by weeds and forestry around it, but one evident characteristic this truck holds is the holes that are present on the driver’s side. This feature that appears on the truck introduces a story that is held captive by the metal it’s constructed of and extends the reasoning to how stories can be lost in time.

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Figure 6

As a society we view abandoned artifacts as discarded trash that someone didn’t need or use anymore without looking at the beauty that stems from the stories untold. Urban explorers seek the interaction of memories from the sites, artifacts and scenery that they discover and hope these interactions cause a haunting echo into the ghosts of those that stood where they stand (Garrett, 2011). The concept of space and time lining up for us to be able to interact with these hidden artifacts provides an understanding of the value of aesthetics (Trigg, 2006). If we look closely enough we can discover materials such as personal notes, tools, equipment, and buildings that are hidden away from an unsuspecting eye or tucked away behind the urban appearance and find beauty in their unknown (Garrett, 2011). 

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As we walk through this world, keep your eye out for hidden stories that could be present in the smallest parts of the landscapes we travel through. You just might find a story that connects you to past ghosts that walked before you. 

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