O Z Y M A N D I A S

An ongoing series of photographic works influenced by the Ozymandias poem by Percy Byshee Shelley, highlighting the diminishing of the shared collective experience in a given architectural space designed for that purpose; and the subsequent diminishing of the public sphere which existed in these spaces.

Using Styrofoam and other packing materials, models and sets were created using the forms and curves of the foam. Where these curves led to alcoves and spaces, they were left as architectural details in their own right, and exaggerated with the use of light, reflection and shadow.

I wish to highlight in these models, the memories of historical architectural connection to buildings; and their faded commitment to the public sphere. Namely architecture as a collective experience in antithesis to the model sets which show a disconnected factor between architecture and human interaction; a panopticon of the present increasing collapse of the public sphere.