The lone silhouetted figure of Thomas Danielson himself cuts an almost supernatural presence, dwarfed amidst the towering brutalist structures that have become his life's work and legacy. Fog swirls around the monolithic slabs of steel and concrete, lending an ethereal, post-apocalyptic air.
Despite his personal triumphs in reshaping the urban fabric through sheer force of will and audacious vision, Danielson appears almost a spectre roaming the desolate, deserted plazas and wind-tunnels created by his controversial designs. His solitary contemplation conveys a sense of reckoning with the human and social costs, the uprooted communities and lost histories sacrificed in pursuit of his architectural renaissance.
Captured by award winning photographer Christopher "Kit" Jennings, Danielson appears an Old Testament figure wandering admist his sublime yet inhospitable creations. The image frames the architect as both celebrating his grandly scaled achievements yet simultaneously performing some sort of perpetual penance for the collateral human destruction enabled by his unchecked ego and zeal for progress.
Has Danielson forged a bold new city or merely erected a cold, inhumane tomb? The fog's merciless engulfing of his legacy leaves that final, damning legacy ambiguous. Ensuring this pioneering but divisive figure will remain forever a monumental, shadowy mystery to future generations.
