Falling Apart

About Falling Apart

-OUR PHILOSOPHY-

There are a lot of shiny, happy pictures on the web taken by shiny, happy people, and there are plenty of great groups here on Flickr celebrating those types of pictures. This is not one of those groups.

ENTROPY: The inevitable and steady deterioration of an object, a system, or a society.

Everything is falling apart. The families in our community. The buildings we live in. The economy we so futilely try to resurrect. Our own bodies.

Everyone experiences loss. It takes a special kind of person, however, to embrace the paradox of actually living among so much death, to find something recognizable, even appealing, amidst the confusion and chaos.

The world is in turmoil. War, famine, disease... they are still with us. Revolution, theft, murder... these are often our responses.

Hostility is not the answer to our exasperated state of existence. The only hope we have of transforming the noise of the world into music is through art, our own art, our own creation. We can take the trash that is lying all around us and build something of it, something useful, something powerful, maybe even beautiful.

Let's hold up a mirror to the world and remind everyone how ugly life is and inspire them to make it a little more shiny and happy.


-WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR IN YOUR PICTURES-

--Buildings, cars, and other human-made things in disrepair.

--People that are in ruins... physical, mental, and emotional stress.

--Battles of Nature vs. Humanity: who will win the war?

--Time and its power over everything.

--Elemental forces and our powerlessness to stop them.

--Disease, death, and mourning. (Remember, "shock value" is never as powerful as a simple, resonating truth.)

--Personal loss of property, self-worth, or reputation.

--"The System," "The Man," "The Machine," and other abstract institutions that thrive on the backs of the poor and helpless.

--Money, its worthlessness, its unpredictability, and its legions of hapless worshipers.

--Illusions of society (use your imagination... okay, try "religion" or "politics" or "sex" or... like I said, use your imagination.)

--Relationships gone wrong. Lies. Betrayal. Cheating. Divorce. Stealing. Regret or Resentment. (Did I get the order right?)

--"Man's inhumanity to Man." Theft. Rape. Murder. War. Genocide. Suicide.

--The Absurd (See Albert Camus).

--Tragedies, Disasters (natural or otherwise), and General Hopelessness.

--Anything else you can think of that might fit into the group's pool.


Remember, the purpose of all of this is to remind ourselves of the suffering of others so we can be motivated or shaken up or comforted.


What are you waiting for? Read the rules, join, and submit something!






Invitation Code
=============================================

Have you seen a picture that would fit perfectly within the cracks of this group? Then give it this award and invite the photographer to "Falling Apart." But please leave some comment as well, the photographer will appreciate it!


I think your picture is

Please submit this photo
to Falling Apart, a group
of photographers exploring
the areas of turmoil, entropy, and loss.

Copy and paste the following code into the comments section of their photo's page.

<strong>I think your picture is</strong>
<a href="http://flickr.com/groups/fallingapart/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4550442953_7b12bca9e5_o.jpg" /></a>
<strong>Please submit this photo
to <a href="http://flickr.com/groups/fallingapart/" target="_blank">Falling Apart</a>, a group
of photographers exploring
the areas of turmoil, entropy, and loss.</strong>