Mother’s Garden, Highland Park, Michigan, 2/10, 13"x 19½" archival pigment print,
Sally Tosti
"The Rust Belt cities along the southern edge of the Great Lakes are attempting to recover from the 1950’s population shift to the suburbs, and the economic woes of the American auto industry. Highland Park, Michigan is one of the places still devastated from those events. As a city within the city limits of Detroit, Highland Park remains an area of abandoned houses, and seemingly uninhabitable structures that are still occupied. The structure in Mother’s Garden is home to a woman who refuses to leave her garden. Block after block, windowless, boarded up buildings predominate. Parts of Detroit such as the Downtown area are experiencing a revival thanks to Quicken Loans, Detroit’s sports teams, and the rehabilitation of long empty stores and office buildings that are being converted to upscale lofts. Highland Park is not part of that revival. Water and electricity have been cut off to parts of the area.
Sally Tosti's recent work has documented the duality that exists within cities. Her initial projects focused on New Orleans, LA, and Las Vegas, NV. The images in the Rust Belt series continue the narrative, and serve as a record of a journey.