I have been obsessed with liminal spaces since I first saw them pop up on social media, and especially Reddit.
I have always wanted to explore liminality in my own home town but failed to find any.
Until now!
Let’s start by asking, What is liminal?
Chat GPT summarises:
Liminal spaces are locations that feel eerie, surreal, or unsettling because they exist in a kind of in-between state — not quite one thing, not quite another. The term comes from the Latin limen, meaning “threshold.” In essence, a liminal space is a transitional or transformative space.
Examples:
– An empty school hallway at night
– A deserted shopping mall
– Hotel corridors
– Parking garages
– Abandoned playgrounds
– Stairwells or waiting rooms
Although my images aren’t of any of those examples, the emotions that those examples give us are echoed in the locations I have found.
Let’s start by amazing what makes the housing development site liminal:
If you have ever seen the movie “Vivarium,” you’ll instantly understand why I found these new build houses so fascinatingly eerie. Repetition, bold shapes, solid colour – almost the hallmarks of brutalist right?
For those who haven’t seen the film, it takes place in an endless maze of suburbia. A hellish landscape of “pleasant” looking homes with lovely lush green lawns and a sky full of little white fluffy clouds, however, this perfect landscape is almost too perfect.
Something isn’t right. no cars, no people. No signs of life. Not any decorations or any signs of activity in, or outside the homes. This was the case in this neighbourhood. (Although there were a few cars parked sadly).
Another movie with liminal theming is any thing Stanley Kubrick. The shining offers rich textured carpets with minimal lighting and an eerie “no one’s around” feel. Exactly what I was hoping to find.
The first black and white photos on this blogpost, I’d argue, are actually more “weirdcore” although the location was eerily quiet with no people or signs of any life, the regimented statues have a dream like presence often found in the recent weirdcore trend.
It still gave off huge “what the actual f**k” vibes as I wondered around the field of statues.
Mojave Milkshake 