Home, Abandoned

2008. The Great Recession. Real estate collapses. No one's hiring. Massive firings. Family homes suddenly vacant. In disrepair. Many stripped of fixtures or occupied by people in need. As neighborhoods emptied, debtors drowned, while the failing banks received massive bail-outs and survived. The dream of affordable housing was dead. Many vacated spaces bore signs of desperation: jettisoned letters, food, snapshots, keepsakes. As the tidal wave of debt crested and broke across the backs of the capsized newly-homeless, we witnessed one of the largest flows of wealth from the bottom to the top that the world has ever seen. In 2009, we lost our family home to the banks, so we hauled our possessions onto the sidewalk, jumped in our car, and drove north. As a family we tried to make sense of this experience: for the next 3 years I photographed my daughter reflecting the shock and anger she felt in having her world taken from her by faceless forces beyond her control.