Abstract

This photo essay explores ruins, ruination, and ruin-making in the year of Covid-19. It begins with three sites of destruction and construction that occurred during the pandemic in order to consider what ruins tell us now. What is the relationship between contemporary ruins and the real and imagined ruins that feature so prominently in Gothic literature and art? How might the history of ruins and the Gothic forms of expression they inspired help us understand our own ruin-making in this, the year of pandemic? Historical and contemporary ruins manifest two by-products of modernity. They reflect and draw attention to invisibility or failures of vision, and to the sense of risk that many identify as a characteristic feature of modern society. But ruins can also be redemptive and emancipatory – particularly so in light of the events of 2020.

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