The Makeshift City records images of Covid-era Atlanta
by Darin Givens | Nov 25, 2024
There’s a thought-provoking collection of 69 images of Atlanta in a new book called The Makeshift City by Joshua Dudley Greer, a photographer based in Atlanta who teaches at Georgia State University. It explores a significant few years for the city, 2020-2024.
This was a period when U.S. cities experienced a series of upheavals such as the COVID-19 pandemic and a housing crisis, along with major cultural events like the Black Lives Matter movement. In Atlanta we also saw the Stop Copy City movement, plus the continuation of our intense level of economic disparity with the city once again ranking among those with the worst income inequality in the nation.
Auburn Avenue (Civil War), Atlanta, Georgia, 2022 © Joshua Dudley Greer
These years served as a rich backdrop for Greer’s camera as it examines the urban landscape and its community as it responds to economic, political, and cultural disruptions.
Looking through the photos I got a feel for the prominent changes happening in the built environment alongside these events. In fact, some of the images are already out-of-date, so to speak, in that the vistas are already changed as of today. I appreciated the value of having this kind of visual document of the era, and getting the chance to linger over a scene and the various threads together…
For instance, consider the photo above of Auburn Avenue during the filming of the movie Civil War (released in 2024). The more unsightly elements of the street — the crumbling and empty building, a billboard focused toward the nearby interstate, the worn-away crosswalk — contrast sharply with a reminder that many big budget movies were filmed on these Downtown streets during the last several years, while the neighborhood itself has seen little (if any) apparent boost from the activity. There is major investment happening in a film industry but the results are not visible in the environment outside of the disruptive shoots.
I asked Greer (via email) what he felt was unique about the moment in time captured by the photos in terms of Atlanta's culture. Here’s the reply:
Greer:
“The time period encompassed by this book was notably marked by COVID-19 lockdowns, BLM and Defund the Police protests, abortion rights struggles and the Stop Cop City movement. All of these engagements made Atlanta feel like it was on the front lines of major political action and calls for reform; echoing its history as a national propeller in the advancement of civil rights.”
“At the same time, Atlanta was seeing a boom of new development and population growth and it felt like the city was transforming itself at a radical pace. While much of that transformation increased resources and density into the heart of the city, it also brought concerns about gentrification, the erasure of historically black neighborhoods and an increased cost of living. In a city that has the highest income inequality in the nation, these issues felt urgent and greatly interconnected.”
Buckhead, Atlanta, Georgia, 2024 © Joshua Dudley Greer
“I’m not a scholar of urban studies or anything like that, but as a photographer I thought I could suggest connections between all of these seemingly disparate issues and forces and create some kind of record that acknowledged what this time period looked like and felt like.”
The second photo above shows a familiar symbol of wealth, a Cybertruck, on a parking deck that’s raised above the streets in Buckhead. It gives the impression of a class of people who are distanced from the public life of the streets and sidewalks, interacting with glass towers only through the view of a luxury vehicle’s windshield and a pristine, privately-owned parking facility. It’s a jarring shift in perspective for the book’s viewer following the images of people in un-luxurious and sometimes harsh environments. In all, it’s an artist’s thoughtful exploration of a complex city during an eventful few years.
The Makeshift City by Joshua Dudley Greer will be published in December 2024 by GOST Books. Greer has copies for sale here:
Peoplestown, Atlanta, Georgia, 2021 © Joshua Dudley Greer
Downtown Connector (Lifting Weights), Atlanta, Georgia, 2022 © Joshua Dudley Greer
