Nov. 5, 2013
Lori Nix
“I’ve been in tornadoes, floods, blizzards,” Nix told Business Insider. “I grew up surrounded by disaster.”
Nix’s project “The City” portrays a world where some
disaster has caused humans to depart for an unseen destination. What’s
left behind are dilapidated structures— art museums, theaters,
laundromats, bars, libraries — that no longer function and are slowly
being reclaimed by Mother Nature.
To create the photos, Nix and her partner Kathleen Gerber
construct dioramas of each idea by hand, using a variety of materials.
When the diorama is finished, Nix brings in her camera and photographs
it in a way that makes them look chillingly real.
Nix has been working on the project since 2005 and has
plans to continue for at least the next year, before calling it quits.
Her new book, "The City," was released this past August by Decode Books.
Nix constructs all of her dioramas, like this one depicting a library circulation desk, in her Brooklyn apartment.
Lori Nix
Each diorama can take up seven months to create, the result of adding painstaking detail to every part of the scene.
Lori Nix
The dioramas can range in size from 18x24 inches to 9x10 feet.
Lori Nix
In this diorama, the columns are approximately two feet tall and she used Breyer model horses for the fountain.
Lori Nix
Nix usually builds and paints the dioramas, while Gerber adds dirt and distresses them so they look old and decrepit.
Lori Nix
Most of the dioramas are made out of a combination of extruded foam, glue, and latex paint.
Lori Nix
When Nix and Gerber finish constructing the diorama, Nix photographs the diorama with a traditional large-format camera. Each shot can take up to two weeks to get right.
Lori Nix
Nix says that this image of a library is everyone's favorite. The books are individually carved out of foam and took an entire summer to create.
Lori Nix
Nix added the rat in this diorama of a laundromat as a nod to their constant presence in New York.
Lori Nix
Not all of Nix's dioramas are serious. In this one, she added pterodactyls to the scene to add humor.
Lori Nix
Many of Nix's work references what climate change might do to our world. Here plants are seen overtaking a Space Center.
Lori Nix
Nix says that while she is afraid of what climate change might do to Earth, she is fascinated by what a changing world can bring.
Lori Nix
This one is based on a mall that Nix visited in Columbus, Ohio. When she went back to do more research, it had already been razed.
Lori Nix
"I imagined the 7 train being abandoned out on the platform long enough so that it was flooded by sand and wind," Nix told Details.
Lori Nix
For this map room, Nix tried to imagine a beautiful place overtaken by mildew and mold. She say it was influenced by Hurricane Katrina.
Lori Nix
Nix says a lot of her work is inspired by 1970s disaster and apocalypse movies like "Planet of the Apes" and "The Poseidon Adventure."
Lori Nix
Nix says this one was inspired by her childhood in Kansas, when her mother would take her to the town beauty shop every other week. "I've never forgotten those weird pink colors."
Lori Nix
Nix got the idea for this one from the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, which is around the corner from her apartment. She tried to imagine "just how crazy it might get," if it stopped being maintained.
Lori Nix
When Nix is finished photographing a diorama, she deconstructs it and throws it away to make room for the next idea.
Lori Nix
Now that you've seen what a fictional disaster looks like...
Damir Sagolj/Reuters
See what's actually going on now in the towns around the Fukushima Power Plant »
Read more: >>http://www.businessinsider.com/lori-nixs-incredible-photos-of-post-apocalyptic-ameirca-2013-10?op=1#ixzz2juk0ShTm
Americans have the same problem as all humans do that are watching the death and destruction of our planet home and the apartheid genocidal criminally insane monsters of our own species are clueless because they're brain dead
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