'Outsider' looking to photograph Detroit.

[TwoBlueRuins]

Originally Posted by detroitlove

I don't know where your from but here shoes on a wire means pretty much nothing. Back in the 80s it meant there was a gang in the area but since local gangs have all but disappeared (Detroit is not a gang city), it really has no meaning. Now its just from some bored kid being childish. Teddy Bears, balloons, flowers and candles on a house, light post, gate etc usually mean someone (usually a child) has died there.

The heidelberg project was started by a man who put all of that stuff on the homes in order to deter drug dealers from "setting up shop" in the empty homes. His theory was, if you draw attention to the home they will less likely go there. It just became what it is now because some suburban person drove pass and decided it was "art". Now people come to take pictures all the time, esp in the summer.

Well in the UK, it tends to mean you can buy drugs at the house that the electrical wires go to. I've never been dumb enough to try it myself, so no first hand proof. The part of town where I live is about 80-90% students though, and a lot of the houses are only occupied for a year at a time before they move on. A lot of students here sell drugs because there's a big student drug culture over here, but the coming and going of occupants means that the shoes probably aren't reliable.

And I understand the Heidelberg thing, and I'd heard that it was to make the neighbourhood more friendly to the children who have to pass through it. But you learn something new every day. At least it has good intentions.

[Coldjensens]

When we were kids, shoes on a wire was just a thing to do. SOmone woudl throw a pair of shoes over a wire and then someone else would come along and add another pair. Every area seemed to have a show wire or shoe tree. Even rural areas. We have to ride our bikes a mile plus to get to the old shoe deposit location. It did not mean anything, just some bored people getting rid of old shoes.

[Retroit]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

When we were kids, shoes on a wire was just a thing to do. SOmone woudl throw a pair of shoes over a wire and then someone else would come along and add another pair. Every area seemed to have a show wire or shoe tree. Even rural areas. We have to ride our bikes a mile plus to get to the old shoe deposit location. It did not mean anything, just some bored people getting rid of old shoes.

Yeah, but I bet the person that lived there made a fortune selling drugs with all the free advertising!