Seph Lawless

Seph Lawless (born 1985) is a pseudonymous American photographer, best known for his photos of urban decay and abandoned spaces across the United States.
==Early life==
Lawless was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and briefly raised in Detroit, Michigan, before returning to Cleveland, where he now resides.David Uberti, “The death of the American mall,” The Guardian, June 19, 2014.Matthew Newton, "Taking Pictures Of The Dead Shopping Malls Of Our Youth: Images From Suburban America," Thought Catalog, June 9, 2014. His father was a longtime worker at Ford Motor Company; through him, Lawless witnessed the collapse of the once-thriving American auto industry.Stephanie Valera, “Ruins of the Rust Belt: Haunting Photos of Abandoned Buildings by Seph Lawless,” Weather.com, February 7, 2014.Interview with Greta Van Susteren, “From bustling center of prosperity to ghost town,” Fox News, May 2, 2014.
==Career==
In 2012 and 2013, Lawless photographed man-made desolation, forgotten landscapes and other symbols of industrial decline in the Rust Belt and across the rest of the United States. He took approximately 3,000 images and 17 hours of video footage that he used in in his 2014 book, Autopsy of America.Eric Sandy, “The Art of the Autopsy: Photographer Seph Lawless Spends his Days Documenting Decaying Ruins,” Cleveland Scene, August 7, 2013.Stan Horaczek, “Interview: Seph Lawless’ ‘Black Friday’,” American Photo, April 29, 2014. 
Lawless's follow-up collection, Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Shopping Mall, contains photos from late 2013 through April 2014, and documents the demise of old symbols of American commercialism, homing in on abandoned, decaying and boarded-up shopping malls.Jordan G. Teicher, "A Haunting Look Inside Some of America's Abandoned Shopping Malls," Slate, June 22, 2014. He photographed abandoned malls in Michigan and Ohio,Aaron Smith, "Autopsy of America: Photos of dead shopping malls," CNNMoney, June 30, 2014. focusing on the abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio, built in 1975 and closed in 2008, and the Randall Park Mall in North Randall, Ohio, which was the world's largest shopping center at the time of its opening in the 1970s and which closed in 2009.Stephanie Valera, “Black Friday: Ghostly Images of Abandoned Malls by Seph Lawless,” Weather.com, May 14, 2014.Adele Peters, "Eerie Photos Of Abandoned Shopping Malls Show The Changing Face Of Suburbia," Fast Company, April 21, 2014.Michael Walsh, "Creepy photos of abandoned shopping malls highlight crumbling communities of the Rust Belt," New York Daily News, April 30, 2014. 
In 2014, Lawless's photos of abandoned malls were featured in segments on CNNMoney, and he was also interviewed about the photos by Greta Van Susteren on Fox News. Cleveland Magazine named Lawless one of its Most Interesting People 2015."Most Interesting People 2015: Seph Lawless," Cleveland Magazine, January 2015. His work has been exhibited internationally in Munich.
==References==
==External links==
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* Seph Lawless at Michigan Wiki
Category:1978 births
Category:American photographers
Category:American photojournalists
Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio