Church, Old Redford, Detroit, Autumn

Posted by David (Detroit, United States) on 4 November 2009 in Cityscape & Urban and Portfolio.

I saw this little scene in the Old Redford neighborhood in Detroit Tuesday afternoon. It is a tranquil spot, just a block off of Grand River Avenue, one of the busiest streets in the city. Along this street, you'd never know you were in such a huge city. This was one of the last neighborhoods annexed by the city over 80 years ago. It was a village in its own right until that time, and some sections maintain that small-town character. Other areas are very gritty.

Time leaves evidence in layers. Sometimes the layers reveal themselves so we can see traces of the years out of sequence. The past and the present interact in ways that were never intended. People, decades apart, impose their actions on the built environment, never realizing that the actions that other people took years before would someday mingle with their own efforts, creating effects none of them could ever imagine. And now, when we see those layers exposed, we create a new meaning.

What about the natural world? A flower is beautiful to us, and to other creatures as well. Even insects are attracted to the blossom. But the meaning we give to the bloom is a human thing.