|
Adriane Fowler •
Immersion
|
In photographing the Fens and its surrounding neighborhoods, I chose to
focus on visible manifestations of stormwater, resulting in a palette of
street and park inlets, outfalls, and access points (monitors, manholes).
It is striking how much water runs beneath the city, and how little access
or understanding we are permitted as we move across the surface of the streets:
the open-throat inlet we park beside, the cryptic manhole marked simply
"DRAIN," the unadorned outfall pipe obscured by shrubs. Washouts and places
of erosion evidence many places where our invisible stormwater systems fail
to work. Plants, especially within the Fens, are an important indication
of patterns of water (for example, Phragmites growth coinciding with zones
of nutrient-rich runoff, such as at the Victory Gardens, or at sewer line
leaks).
I also photographed some of the invasive plant species that have taken over
the banks of the river. They are, in current context, "natural," since the
site has been disturbed numerous times since 1910 without a comprehensive
plan to replant it appropriately. Today, it is hard to imagine what the
Fens would have looked like in OlmstedĖs day, the open reach of salty, tidal,
windswept grass and scrub.
|
