My photography course required me to do a project titled “Public”. One of my subjects for this project became public housing and utility. In Columbia we have hundreds of single family homes that are decades old and over time have been converted into multi-family rental properties.

Overstuffed with residents and for the most part neglected; these buildings and their surroundings tell such stories.

While searching for an interesting gas meter or some other utility box I came across this backyard. The background seems to be an old building that has been partially torn down. The walls are crumbling, overgrown with nature as it chokes out the sunlight and breaks through the thin crest of pavement.

Sticking out from the obvious, almost magical destruction sits a weightbench holding 135lbs. Makes a person ask, “Why does this exist here?”