Julia Solis is a writer and photographer who investigates ruined urban spaces. She is the founder of two arts organizations: Dark Passage and Ars Subterranea, (both of which are dedicated to exploring and exposing New York's ruins and underground spaces). She has written a book entitled New York Underground and received fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is the executive producer of the film American Ruins. Julia is also an officer of the Madagascar Institute and is a board member of Place in History.
In April 2012 her book 'Stages of Decay' will be published. Stages of Decay is a collection of photographs of abandoned and deteriorating performance spaces. At one point, all of these spaces were places of entertainment and pleasure, hosting everything from Vaudeville musicals to rock 'n' roll concerts. The book focuses on the actual stages as they become disfigured by neglect, as the decay advances from mold to collapsing roofs. Stages of Decay is a glimpse at what happens after the final curtain has dropped.
The
project depicts over one hundred stages in the US and Europe, relying
on photographs shot over the last few years. Many of these locations no
longer exist, though their historic, architectural, and metaphorical
relevance remains intact.
