Industrial forest, Italy 2019/I follow river, Italy 2019/Pool Party, Italy 2018

New spawn, Croatia/One fern on the road please, Croatia/The richness, Italy

Stefan Baumann, Austrian photographer and traveller, always looks for human ruins around Europe. In these scenarios plants become the power of nature, that healing force able to regenerate life in contrast to these decadent buildings.

史特凡・包曼是奧地利攝影師與旅行家，他在歐洲各地尋找人造廢墟。在這類場景中，植物往往成為自然的力量，與頹廢的建築相比，這種療癒之力能帶來重生。

Industrial forest: an abandoned factory in Central Italy. This was once a huge industrial complex situated close to a  small city, producing ceramic goods that were shipped all over the world. By the time, ceramic  and porcelain products from abroad became available in Europe too and because of the lower  prices Italian companies couldn’t compete anymore and had to close. This factory closed down in  the mid 90s and left a lot of people from the surrounding cities and villages without work. Today  the former halls are left abandoned and deteriorated, creating a strange and fascinating mixture of  steel, concrete and plants taking over the place. 

“Follow rivers”church dates back to the early 17th century and is located in the beautiful Southern area of  Italy. It was built on an unstable karst landscape in a marshy wetland, so when an earthquake hit  the area in 1703 a sinkhole opened up and flooded the church. The whole building then sunk half  way into the ground with a spring flowing though the interior. Nowadays it’s a gorgeous ruin with a  very special mood with it’s ancient wall paintings and the architectural accents that survived  throughout the centuries combined with the small „river“ flowing through, providing enough water  to create a tiny living habitat within the foundations. 

Wherever is a church, an abandoned pool, a psychiatric hospital, a school or a home, the artist captures reemerging life:

I love it when nature takes back what was once her's and when there are clearly visible signs that even massive architectural structures can't stand the power of nature. I'm always fascinated by plants overgrowing whole rooms and ivy finding its way through the tiniest cracks in walls, breaking the stone by the time. It's this strong surrealism, the high contrast between old, abandoned structures and new life, growing from what looks as a hostile surrounding in the first place, that keeps me trespassing.