Dollhouses of Doom

November 2, 2014 3:37 AM

"People are drawn to the aftermath of destruction or the ravages of time because catastrophe and/or decay is mesmerizing, but many argue that ruin porn is voyeuristic and ghoulish."

For her series, “The City,” photographer Lori Nix hand-builds tiny, exquisitely detailed diorama models of human spaces in a post-apocalyptic world.
posted by alexordave (14 comments total)

Nice...thanks for the post. They reminded me of the murder scene dioramas done by Francis Glessner Lee.
posted by HuronBob at 3:45 AM on November 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Better viewing (bigger images) at the artist's own website here.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:47 AM on November 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ah - thanks for that link. I like her description of how her Kansas childhood fostered an interest in images of destruction. The weather she experienced seems pretty biblical.
posted by alexordave at 3:59 AM on November 2, 2014

Very cool. The first one is on the cover of Fountains of Wayne's 'Sky Full of Holes' album.
posted by McMillan's Other Wife at 5:30 AM on November 2, 2014

By the way, Francis Glessner Lee is the subject of BBC Radio 4's Documentary of the Week podcast at the moment! Check it out.
posted by alexordave at 6:13 AM on November 2, 2014

I'm pretty sure the one of the Chinese takeout was recently on How It's Made or How Do They Do That or one of the similarly titled shows on whatever-TLC-is-called-this-week.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:22 AM on November 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Humans not included?
posted by humboldt32 at 10:22 AM on November 2, 2014

Ah, "human spaces", I read that as "human species".
posted by humboldt32 at 10:22 AM on November 2, 2014

I want to live in this world. Life would be harrowing, exhilerating, dangerous and short. (First world problem, I know.)
posted by Omnomnom at 10:59 AM on November 2, 2014

I'm pretty sure the one of the Chinese takeout was recently on How It's Made or How Do They Do That or one of the similarly titled shows on whatever-TLC-is-called-this-week.

Yeah I saw it recently on How It's Made on the Science channel. It was pretty neat. They also showed a diorama of their studio. Link to pay-wall episode on youtube.
posted by parallax at 11:25 AM on November 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

ROU_Xenophobe: I'm pretty sure the one of the Chinese takeout was recently on How It's Made or How Do They Do That or one of the similarly titled shows on whatever-TLC-is-called-this-week.

parallax: Yeah I saw it recently on How It's Made on the Science channel. It was pretty neat. They also showed a diorama of their studio. Link to pay-wall episode on youtube.

It was indeed fascinating. Just the time it took to make the little take-out boxes or the light-up sign is kind of staggering.
posted by ob1quixote at 1:46 PM on November 2, 2014

Beautiful.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:11 PM on November 2, 2014

I like how the lights are still working in the laundromat. I go into laundromats today and the lights don't work. It's like opposite world!
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:12 PM on November 2, 2014

This is fantastic. Thanks for this!
posted by janey47 at 11:18 AM on November 3, 2014