Skip to content

Improve your Gippslandia browsing experience by using Chrome or Safari.

Contribute to Gippslandia and support positive local storytelling. — donate here

Connecting Gippsland through
positive storytelling.

Shop GippslandiaSupport Gippslandia

Connecting Gippsland through positive storytelling.

Photo FeatureCulture

Beautiful decay.

A mysterious photog presents images of Morwell Power Station - hopefully depicting it before its rebirth.

Nov 13, 2017


Words: Gippslandia

Contribute to support more positive local storytelling.

Support

“By ‘modernity’ I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and immutable…This transitory, fugitive element, whose metamorphoses are so rapid, must on no account be despised or dispensed with. By neglecting it, you cannot fail to tumble into the abyss of an abstract and indeterminate beauty…”

It is with this passage from The Painter of Modern Life (1863) that French poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire first introduces the term, ‘modernity’ into our lexicon. Baudelaire coined the term to represent the fleeting and transitory experience of life in a world that is undergoing rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.

It’s Baudelaire’s conviction that it’s the responsibility of art to capture this experience. Artists, such as the photographer known only as ‘Melbourne Left To Rot’, presented here, record the beauty of our modern structures as they linger in the periphery of destruction or revitalisation. Our photographer documents their decaying subjects without leaving a trace. Heck, we don’t even know their name! But we hope that these incredible images of the Morwell Power Station depict the site before its eventual rebirth as an ‘anchor institution’ for Gippsland and not a portrayal of its unjust demise.

-

Take a look at more of the compelling work of Melbourne Left To Rot on their Instagram.

Photo Feature - Beautiful decay - Melbourne Left to Rot

More in

    Latrobe City

Share this article

FacebookTwitterEmail
FacebookTwitterEmail

Read this next

ArticleCulture

The Art of Rehabilitation.

The Coal Hole. A pile of dirt or a cool arts project? Read more


More in Culture

Artist FeatureCulture

Art for a better Cambodia.

Talented Boolarra artist, Abbas Mehran, is applying his artistic talents to aid underprivileged... Read more

Support Gippslandia

Support from our readers is what keeps the lights on and the printing presses running.

Support

Browse topics

Food & Drink

Explore regions

East Gippsland Shire

Partners

Gippslandia is made possible thanks to our supporting partners. They are businesses that believe in the value of sharing optimistic tales from our great region. We encourage you to support them in return, as without them, Gippslandia wouldn’t exist.

About Gippslandia

Gippslandia is a community, non-profit publication. We curate an ever-optimistic take on regional, national and global issues, in a local context. Leaving you feeling like a Gippslandia local, no matter where you’re from. Read more

© 2021 Gippslandia, All rights reserved