Jefferson Avenue, The Flats, Cleveland 2002

Andrew Borowiec shot this photograph, Jefferson Avenue, in Cleveland using black and white film. I see a flat, open space punctuated by puddles, a car, a river, and infrastructure. It’s kind of bleak. I wonder, what was Andrew thinking when he made this picture? Was he thinking about Edward Hopper and the American landscape? Maybe Bernd and Hilla Becher and their typologies of industrial structures? Borowiec is drawn to places like this, places where the natural world rubs up against human industry, making a kind of brutal poetry. Look at the puddles on the ground. Aren’t they beautiful? They reflect the sky, mirroring the world above. And that old car, it's a relic, a memory of a different time. This photograph invites us to slow down and consider the forgotten corners of our world.