Abandoned But Not Forgotten

Royal Alberta Museum Exhibition Captures the Beauty of Decay.

BY TOM NDEKEZI | EDify. I AUGUST 26, 2021

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Affectionately known as “Grandma’s House” this house has been left relatively untouched since the departure of its aging matriarch in the 1960’s. The house itself is rough;y 100 years old. Photography by Joe Chowaniec

About halfway into Abandoned Alberta — Joe Chowaniec’s 2020 photography book documenting the dozens of abandoned communities scattered across the province — one particular image stands out from the procession of teetering farmhouses, vacant mine shafts and rusted-out pickup trucks. It’s a photograph of the Northlands Coliseum, shot by Chowaniec on a winter’s day from the opposite side of the arena’s parking lot. Once the site of Edmonton’s greatest sporting triumphs, the arena has been unused ever since the Oilers’ move to Rogers Place in 2018. The building now sits as a quiet monument to mid-’70s architecture, stripped of any reminders of its former glory and patiently awaiting its demolition by the municipal government. And although the building’s exterior is still completely intact, Chowaniec’s choice to include it among the crumbling ruins of Abandoned Alberta sends a pointed message about the impermanence of our structures.

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