Artist Photographs Gorgeously Detailed Tiny Apocalypse

[Elizabeth Grunewald]

Artist Photographs Gorgeously Detailed Tiny Apocalypse

In "The City," artist Lori Nix documents a tiny post-apocalyptic world.

Artist Lori Nix has been creating and photographing dioramas for the past two decades, capturing images of everything from the natural settings of rural life ("Accidentally Kansas") to the behind-the-scenes trappings of a museum ("Unnatural History"). Her most recent work, "The City," [http://www.lorinix.net/the_city/index.html] depicts a post-apocalyptic city in the process of being reclaimed by nature.

In discussing the work, Nix says she was inspired by the cinema of her childhood, recalling, "I am fascinated, maybe even a little obsessed, with the idea of the apocalypse...I also grew up watching 1970s films known as 'disaster flicks.' I remember watching Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Planet of Apes and sitting in awe in the dark." She says the scenes she creates range from 60 centimeters to 182 centimeters in diameter, and that the scenes in "The City" took seven months to create and up to three weeks to shoot. Pictured here is Laundromat, 2008; see the rest of the series here at Nix's site [http://www.lorinix.net/the_city/index.html].

The photographs in "The City" are best viewed as large as you can view them, to catch the minute details liberally strewn throughout. I've always been weirdly drawn to post-apocalyptic images, and with "The City," Nix reminds me why.


Source: io9 [http://www.lorinix.net/index.html]

(Image [http://www.lorinix.net/the_city/06.html])

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[Plurralbles]

this one's my favorite:
http://www.lorinix.net/the_city/01.html

 

[My name is Fiction]

"Nice, its very... I don't even know what to say."

 

[theSovietConnection]

There is a lot of detail in those. May use one for my desktop once winter is over.

 

[Wakefield]

I can't pick one that's my favorite. They're all so wonderful.

I'm blown away by the amount of detail in this.

 

[Kaisharga]

The ceiling tiles show age, but the lights are on. There are no bodies, but some of the (empty) carts are tipped over. In the clock tower one, there is no connecting rod to the main clock face window, but also no broken rod below where it would be.

It may be visually interesting, but putting in many smaller details to notice, unfortunately, makes one look at the details and realize its contrivance and falsity.

 

[Baresark]

The ceiling tiles show age, but the lights are on. There are no bodies, but some of the (empty) carts are tipped over. In the clock tower one, there is no connecting rod to the main clock face window, but also no broken rod below where it would be.

It may be visually interesting, but putting in many smaller details to notice, unfortunately, makes one look at the details and realize its contrivance and falsity.

The only reason I don't agree with your assessment is that you can't know the conditions under which these things happened. You can't say things are missing, that the finer details are false simply because there is no food in the carts, or the rod going to the clock face is broke and the broken piece should be there. I would dare say, your "missing" details are easily just as contrived as her work is, in and of itself.

I will say this though, despite the amazing level of detail, they look mini to me. Perhaps it's because of where the camera is located in the pictures, or maybe in pictures where you see the sky it looks fake, I'm not really sure. I also think that people can't really understand the work completely because in order for this to be true, there would have to be no observers. The person looking upon the work is an observer.

Edit: I think part of the problem is the lighting. When you are trying to cast shadows on something smaller, it will take different light to cast the same kind of shadow as it would on something larger. The main difference is that with softer light, it will make less of those hard shadows. If you get a light source close to something and you put that directly against another object, or real close anyway, it would make really dark sharp shadows. But in a larger room, that same light source would disperse completely different.. Still, an amazing amount of work went into it, so you gotta respect the artist.

 

[BrainWalker]

The ceiling tiles show age, but the lights are on. There are no bodies, but some of the (empty) carts are tipped over. In the clock tower one, there is no connecting rod to the main clock face window, but also no broken rod below where it would be.

It may be visually interesting, but putting in many smaller details to notice, unfortunately, makes one look at the details and realize its contrivance and falsity.

The ceiling lights being on in the laundromat is the first thing that made me stop and think "Hey, wait a minute." It was downhill from there.

Still an impressive body of work, though.

I'd argue carts and stools and chairs and various other things could have been tipped by critters, though. There is that raccoon and some birds in the clock tower, after all.

I really dig this one [http://www.lorinix.net/the_city/08.html], actually, because for some reason in most fictional scenarios the apocalypse only hits temperate or tropical climates. You don't often see icy ruins outside video games.

 

[someotherguy]

I accidentally Kansas.

Is what came to mind, really.

 

[BabyRaptor]

That's a wee bit mind-blowing.

 

[Kaisharga]

The ceiling tiles show age, but the lights are on...etc...putting in many smaller details to notice, unfortunately, makes one look at the details and realize its contrivance and falsity.

The only reason I don't agree with your assessment is that you can't know the conditions under which these things happened. You can't say things are missing, that the finer details are false simply because there is no food in the carts, or the rod going to the clock face is broke and the broken piece should be there. I would dare say, your "missing" details are easily just as contrived as her work is, in and of itself.

Maybe, but I was really excited to try and detective-story the thing out, see what I could figure out about what happened to these fictional people in this fictional place...until I saw things that made a complete and utter lack of logical sense. It really, really detracted from the art, for me.

Still, an amazing amount of work went into it, so you gotta respect the artist.

True. Props for dedication, if nothing else.

 

[Distorted Stu]

Im loving the libary picture. Reminds me of Buffy's Sunnydale.

 

[crepesack]

The ceiling tiles show age, but the lights are on. There are no bodies, but some of the (empty) carts are tipped over. In the clock tower one, there is no connecting rod to the main clock face window, but also no broken rod below where it would be.

It may be visually interesting, but putting in many smaller details to notice, unfortunately, makes one look at the details and realize its contrivance and falsity.

The ceiling lights being on in the laundromat is the first thing that made me stop and think "Hey, wait a minute." It was downhill from there.

Still an impressive body of work, though.

I'd argue carts and stools and chairs and various other things could have been tipped by critters, though. There is that raccoon and some birds in the clock tower, after all.

I really dig this one [http://www.lorinix.net/the_city/08.html], actually, because for some reason in most fictional scenarios the apocalypse only hits temperate or tropical climates. You don't often see icy ruins outside video games.

Impressive but I couldn't help be think to myself: If there were trees growing in the library, that means around 50-100 years must have passed. There's no way those books and portraits could have lasted exposed to the elements. That goes with many other aspects of the dioramas.

 

[rddj623]

Very intriguing. Lots of heart and soul. Diorama's are hard to work with I'm sure. Very very cool stuff.