Graffiti Woman On Abandoned Nassau Building Black And White | Wall Art

Fenced Street Mural On A Weathered Nassau Facade

I came across this abandoned building while walking along an ocean-side street in Nassau, Bahamas. What stopped me was not simply the decay of the structure, but the painted woman staring outward from the wall. Her face occupies the center of a battered facade, yet a modern chain-link fence topped with barbed wire stands between her and the street. That layering immediately changed the photograph for me. The mural already suggested struggle; photographed through the fence, it became even more visually charged.

The image sits naturally within my graffiti wall art photography, but the graffiti is only one part of what interested me. The old building has a broad hipped roof, damaged walls, boarded openings and layers of paint, markings and weathered surfaces. Palm trees rise behind the roofline while large clouds fill the sky, giving the scene a distinctly tropical setting despite the hard urban character of the foreground.

I photographed the building almost straight on. That viewpoint gives the architecture a strong, deliberate geometry: the triangular roof above, the long horizontal facade below and the repeating diamond pattern of the fence across the entire frame. Against all of that structure, the woman's painted face becomes the point my eye keeps returning to. She is partially interrupted by the fence, but that obstruction is exactly what made me want the photograph.

I chose black and white because the scene already contained so much visual information. Removing color concentrates attention on the mural, the wire, the deteriorated masonry, the roof shingles, the graffiti lettering and the contrast between the dark painted face and the lighter wall. From across a room, the face and building create the immediate graphic impact. Closer inspection reveals the fence pattern, peeling surfaces and smaller marks accumulated across the facade.

I can see this photograph working particularly well for collectors drawn to urban photography, street art, architectural decay and less conventional images of the Caribbean. It has enough structure for a contemporary interior, but it still carries the roughness and unpredictability of the street where I found it.

This photograph is offered as a limited edition of only 10 prints. I personally sign each print, and each one includes a certificate of authenticity. I print the photograph with archival pigment inks on premium archival paper to preserve the detail and tonal separation that are so important to this black-and-white image.

For collectors drawn to weathered architecture, forgotten structures and places marked by time, this photograph also belongs naturally among my abandoned places wall art.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2013