Ki Ho Park

Ki Ho Park, Photography MFA 2010

Closed 

The evidence of closed stores has a poetic trace of business suddenly gone, left in a hurry. I pear through the window to see what is left behind: empty tables and chairs are exposed, and the blooms and trash cans sit in the corners.  The empty stores are sitting in vain desperately looking to find a new occupancy. But, unfortunately, the waiting is far longer than anyone expected. And these vacant buildings are slowly showing a sign of decay and creating “a dying urban landscapes.” Time magazine states, “The Great Recession is transforming how we spend, whom we trust, where we save and what we really value.” These changes are long overdue. Ki Ho Park is an investigator, examining the debris left behind to find out what existed before and collecting the data that can foresee the current crisis. The evidence is fresh and unmarked; he records it before it is bulldozed to dust.