How Did That Get There?
The Abandoned Barn of Nairn, Ontario
Mackenzie Van Dyk
Spread throughout the countryside of Nairn, in valleys, fields, along the river and in the forests, various abandoned items inhabit the open space. Where did these items came from? How did they become abandoned? And what stories do they tell? The answers to these questions will be discovered through the exploration of the following themes; Nature vs Culture, Trash as Artifacts, Beauty in Decay, and Marx's Theory of Postmodernity.
Society's development has contributed to the accumulation of abandoned items and ruins. The advancement of technology has caused many pieces of machinery to be replaced, and the old items become abandoned in nature. The items that civilization has no use for are discarded and reclaimed by nature. The natural environment makes the items their own as it turns them into a part of their aesthetic.
As the abandoned items sit in nature they begin to rust, the colour fades, nature grows around and within them, and the items become a part of nature. This process of decay creates a new aesthetic, beauty in decay.
In Nairn Ontario, the vast area of farmland has contributed to a large variety of abandoned farm equipment and other items. The most popular location for rustic exploration is placed eerily at the top of a large hill. The abandoned barn sits atop the hill and it's remnants spill down the hill into the valley, along the river, and on the edges of the fields. Each of these items are connected to the history of the town. Each piece, beautiful in it's own way, has a story to tell.
The Barn Quiescent
The rusted walls stand tall and strong,
Through a change in appearance the barn stands in its glory.
Though people have passed, the barn has been there all along.
While the structure is present, where is the story?
The barn doors creak as the wind pushes them open.
Through these doors lie pieces of the past,
Waiting to be discovered, to have their story spoken.
The remnants of this barn were meant to last.
To maintain the attachment of ghost to world,
To allow their story to live on in the present.
Only those brave enough will know the story unfurled,
They will learn the history of the barn quiescent.
Nature vs Culture
The opposition between nature and culture has always been apparent. As humans we believe that we can always find improvements in our lives. This improvement often comes from creating and having more. Nature on the other hand, is content with the state it is in. It follows the seasons, sticking to the same routine year after year. It is through human’s consumer intensive lifestyles and unsavoury environmental practices that items become abandoned and left to the natural environment (O’Brien & Szeman, 2010). Nature, following its routine, integrates the abandoned items into its environment. Growing around and within the items and transforming them from a human to a natural aesthetic.
These old pieces of farm equipment show how nature accepts abandoned items and transforms them to fit the natural aesthetic. The metal surfaces have turned to rust, and the once bright colours are beginning to fade. Nature never stopped growing. The weeds and vines grew around the items, and wound their way through the open spaces. The photograph on the right shows an old wooden wagon, though it is very difficult to see due to the work of nature. It is almost as if the natural environment is tying up the machinery so that it can not be removed. These items were abandoned and they belong to nature now.
"Trash" as Artifacts
As society developed, consumerism increased. Having things meant you had a higher social status. This resulted in having too much stuff. “If there is overproduction, and everybody buys too much stuff, then sooner or later some of that stuff will be discarded (Rufus & Lawson, 2009)”. Today we see the results of overproduction and consumerism in the abandoned items and trash that has ended up in nature.
Many people view the abandoned items as trash. And while they may have been abandoned because of this view, these items have undergone a transformation, they have turned from trash into artifacts. As Stallabrass states in his article Trash, “Objects gain and lose something when they are abandoned as rubbish”.
What they lose is their desirability, their newness, their utility, and their value. However, these items gain the ability to tell many stories and provide new perspectives. Abandoned items are key to understanding the historical fascination and they not only tell stories of the past, but they also show us “glimpses of our current way of life as if it were already gone (RomanyWG, 2010)”. These items also confess a truthfulness, that “commodities, despite all their tricks, are just stuff (Stallabrass, 2009)”.
While items often lose their presentation and value when they are abandoned, we still find beauty in them. There is something intriguing and unique about the decaying items, there is beauty in decay.
Along the side of the river, down the hill from the farmhouse and barn, spills many abandoned artifacts. Old house appliances such as a fridge, a tv, and a microwave can be seen in the photos above. While exploring this area of the farmland, I also came across an old pair of binoculars, possibly from another urban explorer, seeking the history of the abandoned barn.
Each of these items once had a purpose, but when they were no longer needed, they were discarded as trash. These items have now become beautiful in nature. They tell a new story to every person who stumbles across them.
Beauty in Decay
Beauty can be hard to define, as it is experienced differently by all. As they say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. When we think of things that are beautiful, we often visualize colourful, perfect, natural things. Beauty is defined as a combination of qualities that appeal to our emotional and intellectual sense. How does this relate to the beauty that we see in decaying rubbish? “Decay is not supposed to be beautiful. Decay is rot, entropy, death, failure, unclean, diseased and absent of meaning. It is everything our culture tries to ignore (RomanyWG, 2010)”.
So why are we drawn to abandoned things, to decaying machines and buildings? There is no telling exactly why, but there is no denying that we do indeed see beauty in decay. Perhaps it is because we are intrigued by the broken, our everyday lives are structured and regular. We are interested in things that break the norm, we long for excitement and adventure, and these abandoned items and buildings give us the thrill of the mystery. “We love it precisely because we cannot name it (RomanyWG, 2010)”.
Marx's Postmodernity
The era of postmodernity is largely responsible for many of the abandoned farms, farmhouses, and small towns in the countryside. Postmodernity refers to the era of contemporary history that began around the 1970’s. This period of time is “identifiable with certain specific socio-economic, technological, and cultural developments (Marx, 1996)”. In the postmodern era, there were huge developments and transformations made in the agricultural world. “The distinctive way of life associated with America’s farmland has virtually disappeared. For decades people have been abandoning the farmhouses and small towns (Marx, 1996)”.
In the past, a large percentage (90%) of families lived on farms. These single family farms were a means of survival and a lifestyle. Today agriculture has become much more industrialized, it is more highly mechanized, and focuses on large-scale commercial production (Marx, 1996). This transformation of agriculture is responsible for many of the small, abandoned barns and old farm machinery. As agriculture became more advanced commercially, families no longer had the need to run their own farm for subsistence, they could survive off other’s farms (Marx, 1996). As for their machinery, it was old and not fit for the large-scale agriculture of today’s society. So, their machines too were abandoned along with the barns and farmland.
References
Marx, L. (1996). The American landscape in the era of postmodernity.
O'Brien, S., & Szeman, I. (2010). Spaces and places of popular culture. In Popular culture: a user's guide. 2nd ed. (pp. 304-318). Toronto: Nelson.
RomanyWG. (2010). Beauty in Decay: The Art of Urban Exploration.
Rufus, Anneli and Kristan Lawson. The Scavenger’s Manifesto. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher and Penguin, 2009. Print
Stallabrass, J. (2009). Trash. In F. Candlin, & R. Guins, The object reader. London: Routledge.
Van Dyk, M. (2021). Abandoned Farmland, Photo Collection [Image Source]