A professor once told me that trees can do awful things to good architecture. A hulking, untrimmed hardwood or a poorly kept shrub can be the unforgiving bad hair day to even the greatest of architectural schemes. But what about people? Does the built environment shine its brightest absent of the flows of foot traffic? This is the landscape of Lucie and Simon’s ‘Silent World,’ a photographic portrayal of the world’s busiest metropolises, abandoned but for a few lone stragglers wandering amidst the deserted buildings left behind.

Familiar and iconic places—normally bustling with moving bodies—are shown emptied and reticent, cast in an undeniably eerie, post-apocalyptic gloom. The images force us to examine the habitat we have collectively built for ourselves, to contemplate what humans have made of their natural environment. Click through for more images.

[All images courtesy the artists]

by Kelly Chan

posted in Money Shot

tagged beijing, cities, city, new york, paris, photography

more articles by Kelly Chan