The place we call home can be an overlooked and underappreciated gem, while at the same time be the bane of our existence. My hometown is just this, a town full of history dating back to the beginning of the United States. A town full of invention and progress, yet stuck in a time warp of its own creation. This is a town that constantly tears down its past to reinvent itself, but only to discover scattered outside the rubble, some great relics.
This is what actually makes it such an intriguing place along with the multitudes of immigrants who constantly come here trying to reinvent themselves. These newcomers, when their goal was achieved, tended to move onto greener pastures leaving their older lives and the structures that once gave them their start for the next wave of immigrants. The recent new wave of immigrants isn’t necessarily from other countries, but enthusiastic and visionary people from other areas of the country, which see the potential of an older and forgotten city. [There has been a large influx of Mexicans in South Philly – among others.]
There is also the side of the city that was of high finance and industry, mansions that were built throughout the city and in parts that at one time were considered the countryside. That wealth is gone, or rather moved onto greener pastures outside the city, leaving some of their structures dust-covered, crumbling and haunting the city like relics from an archeological site waiting for someone to come along and discover it.
The images represent a view of some of these ideas. They are not documents in the true sense, but more a portrait of a place. They are the overlooked gems that people go past on their daily routines. However, I have decided to stop and spend some time, exploring these areas as if I were a visitor or newcomer to the city and seeing these sites — with all its strangeness and beauty — for the first time.
Paul Rider
Age 49
Philadelphia, PA., USA
Weekend portfolio selected by Olga Sviblova.
