Credit: COURTESY OF SEPH LAWLESS

seph-9.JPG
  • SEPH LAWLESS
Photographer Seph Lawless spends his days exploring abandoned ruins across the country. He lives in Ohio City, so much of his work revolves around Cleveland’s own urban decay.

We spent an afternoon wandering around a ravaged church on the city’s East Side recently and profiled his work in the Aug. 8 issue of Scene.

“When you go to areas like East Cleveland or Detroit, you can’t make a right or a left without seeing some sort of urban decay,” he said, citing some of the reasons for why he does what he does. “It’s a real problem, and it’s growing. You just wouldn’t believe the devastation, the urban decay. It’s profound. It really is.”

Here, we’re presenting a more robust look at Lawless’ work in and around Cleveland and East Cleveland. Most of the photos here speak for themselves; for some, we’ve added informative cutlines. Several of the photos feature the house where Angela Deskins’ body was found last month.

Even more photography can be seen on Lawless’ Instagram account (@SephLawless).

All photos were taken by Seph Lawless

This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2013.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

6 replies on “21 Stunning Photographs of Cleveland’s Urban Decay by Photographer Seph Lawless”

  1. Especially compelling are the houses that still have furniture in them- as if the occupants just disappeared one day….

  3. MORE CAN BE SEEN ON HIS INSTAGRAM SEPHLAWLESS OR HIS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: facebookcom/seph.lawless‎

  4. Seph Lawless, truly portraying profound beauty in such an desolate world, is that of an art.

  5. It all goes back to the Earth anyway. I don’t see why everyone is all “Something must be done!”. Like raking leaves… don’t you know that messes up the topsoil and you (or a few generations from now, someone else) is going to have to fertilize… just too much damn energy put into screwing up the world for the sake of making shit look pretty.

Comments are closed.