THEY paint a picture of a glorious past filled with the potential for hope and success.

But to US photographer Seph Lawless, the haunting images reveal “the beginning of the end of the greatest economic machine that the world has seen”.

Mr Lawless, who has been photographing abandoned places across the US for the past decade, recently snapped the Metro North Mall in Kansas City, Missouri, days before it was due to be demolished.

The photographer from Cleveland, Ohio, said this series highlighted big changes in America’s culture as it moved away from closed to open shopping centres.

But more importantly he said they represented the economic malaise in depressed regions of America’s Rust Belt — the midwest.

Mr Lawless said this was the very part of the US where many Americans felt they had been left behind.

Many in this region saw President-elect Donald Trump as the answer to fixing the country’s economic problems.

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr Lawless said the latest images form part of project Autopsy of America: The Death of a Nation — also the name of his first published book which is due to be released next year.

“The project took over 10 years to make and covers abandoned places scattered across America from abandoned amusement parks to abandoned building like malls, theatres, houses and factories,” he said.

“It’s been a decade long, emotional journey for me.”

In his latest series, he said he wanted to highlight the impact a changing economy had on the midwest and hoped it could lead to some change.

The Rust Belt, a roughly defined area that includes the heavily white, working class states Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, swung towards Mr Trump at the election, delivering him a shock victory.

While Ohio was always up for grabs, the other three states were thought to be fairly safely in Hillary Clinton’s column.

However voter disenchantment was high with many feeling neglected by the current establishment.

“The malls represent the beginning of the end of the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen — America — where capitalism and greed destroys everything and results in globalisation and outsourcing of American jobs,” Mr Lawless said.

He also said the images said a lot about the state of Americans in general and showed how these places couldn’t be replaced as long as social media is the new communal space for people to meet and to socialise.

“Before the internet you went to malls to see and meet people there was no other way, so America is changing in drastic ways from how we shop to how we communicated,” he said.

“We have become disconnected from the reality that surrounds us and I hope my images raise awareness of the ugly reality that exists.”

While most of us might feel a little scared walking around abandoned areas, Mr Lawless said it had a beautiful side to it.

“It felt surreal and creepy like I was the last person alive in the world,” he said.

“It was frightening but very peaceful at the same time.”

Mr Lawless, who has travelled extensively across the US and parts of Europe, plans on visiting South America and Asia next year.

Visit Seph Lawless to see more of his work or visit his YouTube channel.

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