Simone
Detroit, 2020.
Disease has ravaged the city.
Most died quickly in the first wave.
Then there are the ones infected in the second wave. The ones who came back.
And the few who were immune, left in the ruins.
Fighting to stay alive.
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Detroit is still the place to be if you want to tell a post-apocalyptic zombie survivor story. These photos only tell part of the tale though. In the decade since the Great Recession, when gangs of wild dogs ran the deserted streets and you could buy a mansion for $1, the city has been experiencing an amazing comeback. In Brush Park, a neighborhood of stately mansions that graced the covers of countless magazines for their "ruin porn" appeal, I had to hunt to find one still in disarray. Most have now been restored, and those $1 homes are now million dollar homes. The Fisher Body plant remains an urban wasteland, but other plants have been retooled and employ thousands. Detroit was labeled dead, but they counted us out too soon. Now our progress back to prosperity has been interrupted by the Coronavirus, which has hit our city harder than any other outside of NYC. Prosperity had not yet returned to all Detroiters, and the lack of health care, solid employment, and reliable transportation is killing thousands, literally. So many people here do not have the option to shelter in place---if they do, they will lose their place. We have to do better. We have to stay strong. We cannot let our past become our future.
Simone
Detroit, 2020.
Disease has ravaged the city.
Most died quickly in the first wave.
Then there are the ones infected in the second wave. The ones who came back.
And the few who were immune, left in the ruins.
Fighting to stay alive.
------------
Detroit is still the place to be if you want to tell a post-apocalyptic zombie survivor story. These photos only tell part of the tale though. In the decade since the Great Recession, when gangs of wild dogs ran the deserted streets and you could buy a mansion for $1, the city has been experiencing an amazing comeback. In Brush Park, a neighborhood of stately mansions that graced the covers of countless magazines for their "ruin porn" appeal, I had to hunt to find one still in disarray. Most have now been restored, and those $1 homes are now million dollar homes. The Fisher Body plant remains an urban wasteland, but other plants have been retooled and employ thousands. Detroit was labeled dead, but they counted us out too soon. Now our progress back to prosperity has been interrupted by the Coronavirus, which has hit our city harder than any other outside of NYC. Prosperity had not yet returned to all Detroiters, and the lack of health care, solid employment, and reliable transportation is killing thousands, literally. So many people here do not have the option to shelter in place---if they do, they will lose their place. We have to do better. We have to stay strong. We cannot let our past become our future.