Erevan - Sevan Possibly 2004 - 2010

This photograph, "Erevan - Sevan", by Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, is a study in the poetics of abandonment. Made with film, and printed in monochrome, it's all about the subtle gradations of gray, evoking a sense of faded glory. The texture here is everything. You can almost feel the rough, weathered concrete of the bus stop, standing lonely in the landscape. The light is soft, almost diffused, which gives the whole scene a feeling of being lost in time. Look at the way the light catches the edge of the overhanging roof, and how the texture of the concrete is almost palpable. This isn't just a photograph; it's an elegy to forgotten places. It makes me think of Robert Smithson's earthworks, these structures existing as a kind of anti-monument. Like Smithson, Schulz-Dornburg transforms a mundane structure into something monumental, imbued with its own mysterious presence. There's a certain ambiguity here, inviting us to project our own stories onto this desolate scene.