Model T Headquarters, Highland Park,

2009

In the former executive offices of Ford’s Model T Headquarters, abandoned for some forty years, Moore discovered a scene overtaken by the elements. Devoid of human life, the building appears to exist in a postapocalyptic era: the metallic walls of the suite have bloomed in rust, giving them the appearance of mahogany paneling; the carpet has evolved into a forest of moss. Elsewhere in Detroit, Moore has photographed trees growing from a mulch bed of decaying books in a library warehouse and dense tangles of vine enveloping the last houses left on streets that were, within living memory, densely populated. While permeated with a sense of despair, these works also offer hope for a new future. "In an urban setting," Moore states, "you could also have a landscape happening, the forces of nature intersecting with American urbanism, the process
of decline also intersecting with the revival of nature."