Patrick & Zaniah Marshallsay Photography

The Abandoned bicycle

Abandoned : "Having been deserted or left" [Oxford Dictionaries]; "left in a particular place or condition" [Cambridge English Dictionary].  It is implicit in the common usage of the word that the abandonment will be permanent, and a web search for "abandoned bicycle" will turn up numerous articles about and images of bicycles which have been abandoned in public places without any likelihood that their owners will return to reclaim them.  This is not the case of the bicycles shown in the accompanying images.  Whether the mode of abandonment consists of carefully stowing and locking the bike in a rack, or simply dropping it where one dismounts, there is an expectation that the owner will in the near future return, reclaim their bike, and ride off to their next destination.

This is a casual project, and the gallery will progressively added to over time.  The project was motivated by the observation that the "abandoned" bicycle appears to be at home irrespective of the cultural or geographic setting in a way in which say, the "abandoned car" would not.