Exeter - Pripyat - Detroit

Hotel Room, 1996. Photo: David McMillan See also photos of Pripyat by Robert Polidori and John Darwell

As part of ongoing Nexus discussions, Felicity Shillingford and I have been sharing images of nature reclaiming the urban environment. (They relate to the exhibition's garden setting.) She brought some wonderful images into the gallery of the ruins of Detroit. They show once-magnificent buildings left to decay as the US motor industry declined.

I dug out some material from Pripyat, the town in Ukraine abandoned in 1986 after the accident at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant (see above). I first sourced these images as part of my degree studies, but I keep revisiting them. Apart from the aesthetics of decay, there's something compelling about looking at the rapidity with which nature reasserts itself. It gives a real sense of humankind's small place in the world.

Perhaps more appropriately to the theme of connections and networks, we also talked about the urban gardening initiatives in Detroit that are helping to rebuild communities and feed local people.

Nexus until 1 September, Exeter Phoenix, Gandy Street, Exeter EX4 3LS