Walls That Talk

I regularly pass by this open piece of ground in central Oslo, wedged in between buildings. Once a building stood here too; I remember it well as it used to house a fun nightclub and bar and later café, before the whole building was gutted in a fire one New Year's Eve (which I witnessed. Apart from a tiny fragment of the entrance (which is not visible here) the whole place was pulled down, the basement beneath the ground here filled in, and now fifteen or more years later– it lingers in the sun; occasionally cars may park here, but it's not been made to accommodate vehicles in any way –the area is simply waiting. Yet every time I pass by I'll recall a memory or two of fun times spent here back in the nineties, and then I'll get distracted by the decaying grandeur of the adjacent walls. I love the mix of textures, the unevenness, the sense of space, and I've passed by so many times meaning to take pictures here but never getting around to it –until now. The black and white rendition somehow just seems right, placing the image into a stylised past that is both evocative and strangely beautiful despite the decay.

Location: Oslo, Norway