Image from River Reveal (work in progress)
Paulette Myers-Rich

In an urban context, palimpsests are caused by economic or social changes that result in abandonment, decay, arson, reclamation and eventually, rehabilitation. The layers and fragments that become exposed after years of activity and change, ruin and renovation, reveal subsurface details that give clues to the activity and culture of a place in an earlier manifestation. I photograph them in order to capture these “texts,” to attempt a reading, often revisiting a site to see if more is revealed in time. Many sites offer only one opportunity at capturing the palimpsests, as they are photographed while being demolished, an act of complete erasure.

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