Flowers Power: Rethinking Detroit's Abandoned Homes: Radical Joy Revealed

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Flowers Power:
Rethinking Detroit's Abandoned Homes

Detroit house slated for demolition, adorned with flowers by community organizers and florists. Photo by Heather Saunders Photography

How do you create beauty out of an old, dilapidated thing that just about everyone has given up on? Is there any sense in bringing something lovely and ephemeral into a structure that will probably be demolished anyway?

Absolutely! declared a group of florists and community organizers in Detroit last year. And then they set out to embellish an abandoned house with masses of living flowers. Swags of golden marigolds sweep along cracked and moldy walls. Tulips dangle from ceilings like art nouveau chandeliers. Mauve, purple, and lavender blooms seem to pour out of a crack in the wall and sprawl across the floor. Even a battered old chair becomes part of the décor, its seat embroidered with greenery and blossoms.

The mission of the organization behind the project, Reclaim Detroit, is to rescue and reuse components of old buildings, from sinks to walls to floors. Members of the community are trained to dismantle usable features, which craftspeople then transform into new and practical objects.

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Radical Joy for Hard Times is a global community of people dedicated to finding and making beauty in wounded places. Reconnecting with these places, sharing our stories of loss, and making acts of beauty there, we transform the land, reconnect people and the places that nourish them, and empower ourselves to make a difference in the way we live on Earth.

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