Once my final piece was finished, it was time to take it to my chosen abandoned site, Condor services.
Following on from the anonymous Facebook post, I discovered that the building is privately owned. It has been abandoned in a sense that it's been deserted, but the owner lives in the house next door.
The building is behind metal railings and has cones in front and is only accessible via the house.
Many people suggested simply knocking on and asking for permission. Though many people had advised me to not ask for permission, I decided to show respect and courtesy to the elderly gentleman.
This, however, made me extremely anxious. My partner, who has his own graffiti past and isn't a stranger to trespass, is fearless. He knocked on the house whilst I watched from the car across the road. Ten minutes later he came back to me, explaining that it was an elderly lady who had answered the door. She was the wife of the gentleman that owned the site, and mentioned that he had passed away 2 years ago. She was grateful that we asked, as she has to chase away at least a person a week.
Unfortunately, her answer was no,
we could not take photographs outside the building.
Her intention is to demolish the building and sell the land, and her worry was that if we took pictures and published them online that a conservation order would be placed on the building. I am aware that this wouldn't likely happen, but still have to respect her wishes. I certainly don't want to frighten or upsrt an old lady living alone. I decided to accept the decision and find somewhere else to photograph my work.
Comments