Abandoned Things and Post-Apocalyptic Genre

Abandoned things and places explained

I wonder if my taste for dark/broody/industrial sorts of music is related to my penchant for abandoned structures/objects. Somehow they seem to go together well and if I'm painting something abandoned, this is the sort of music that goes with it best. Hard to tell since I've only done two abandoned paintings but the mood of the two things, the physical things and the music, are similar for me. They all work under the umbrella of "post-apocalyptic", and most of you know how much I love post-apocalyptic stories. Games, movies, books...

I think that's why I love the post-apocalypse genre... or maybe not WHY, but what I like about it. Particularly post-nuclear/war type apocalypse. Because things have been damaged, abandoned, left behind. Often its things that were perfectly FINE when they were abandoned and it's only time that has worn them down -- which is my favorite type of abandoned thing: old mines, and mining equiptment were all working fine when they were just LEFT there. A post-apocalyptic landscape would be chock full of these things.

And it's not WHY they're now abandoned that matters so much, it's the stories behind them before they were abandoned. It's crazy that there are these things laying around and no one seems to know why. The Colluseum - we know what it's for, who built it, etc. Ancient artifacts all have scads of scientists pouring over them and what they were for. But more modern items, though way easier to decypher the stories for, no one cares about. One day, everyone who remembers will be gone, and that day isn't too far off. I found that generator/compressor thing up there on the mountainside and no one seems to know what it was for. I mean, I can GUESS, but what's better is wondering who bought it, who dragged it up there, how long did it operate for, was it working when they left it? A human or group of humans were THERE and they were busy and productive and here's sign of their story and what makes it seem almost supernatural is the fact that it was left there not long ago.

If you believe in the energies of places and things, then you might get this. When I was in Rome and was in all these old buildings and in the catacombs... they were SO old and though we know the stories of these things, they had no energy to them at all. It was like becuase so many hundreds of thousands of people had been there since they were abandoned that the energy was worn away like an old coat of paint. Ancient places that are hard to get to might still have this energy but obviously it would be very difficult for me to get to them to find out. So I have things like mines and wrecked trains that not so many people have been to, that haven't been there for so long, so the energy is still there.

And bringing it full circle -- a post-apocalyptic landscape would be chock-FULL of these sorts of things and places. Ta-da. I'd never thought to link all this together before. :)

Photos copyright©Kara Stenberg