Abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Ohio transformed after a blizzard

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Winter Storm Linus dropped as many as 20 inches of snow in the Midwest last week closing down roads, schools, and even public transportation
Photographer Seph Lawless decided to take a snow day with his camera and visited the abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Ohio to photograph it once again
Seph Lawless published a book last year called Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Mall which featured pictures of the abandoned space
When Lawless arrived at the mall recently he was pleasantly surprised to discover it had been transformed into a winter wonderland

By Alexandra Klausner For Dailymail.com and Jessica Jerreat

Published: 19:23 EST, 12 February 2015 | Updated: 17:03 EST, 13 February 2015

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Winter Storm Linus dropped as many as 20 inches of snow in the Midwest last week closing down roads, schools, and even public transportation.

Photographer Seph Lawless decided to take a snow day with his camera and visited the now abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio to photograph it once again.

When Lawless arrived at the mall last week he was pleasantly surprised to discover the dark and dingy shell of a shopping center had been transformed into a winter wonderland.

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Winter wonderland: The blizzard turned the abandoned Ohio mall Rolling Acres into a living snow globe with rolling mounds of snow on the escalators once filled with shoppers

Before the snow: Photographer Seph Lawless took photographs of the abandoned mall last year for a book and his perception of the dark and dingy mall transformed into something magical this time around

Snowone here: The abandoned mall, which when it was operating was decorated with fake snow around the holidays, is brighter with snow and reminded the photographer of the mall in its heyday

DailyMail.com spoke to Photographer Seph Lawless back in April of 2104 about his book Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Mall which featured pictures of the once booming shopping center after it was abandoned in 2008.

Remembering that the mall skylights were broken during his last visit, Lawless decided to venture out to see just how much snow got through to the interior.

'I went because I knew that the skylights were a little compromised last time I was there, but I never anticipated that they were in such bad shape to the point that that much snow got into the mall,' Lawless told The Huffington Post.

Lawless, who told DailyMail.com last last year that he once worked at the mall and he would visit often as a child, said that the snow reminded him of fake snow, holiday decorations, and of the mall in its heyday.

Skylight: Seph Lawless decided to re-visit the mall after the storm because he remembered that the skylights were broken during his last visit and he knew some snow would get inside

Ghost town: The mall has no shoppers on the escalators but with all the snow one might want to take a sled and dive down the ramp

Bright: The abandoned mall is dark and falling apart but the snow allows for the light to reflect and recreates some of the mall's former brightness

'I think that's maybe what makes it so magical in a sense, it's like you're walking into a snow globe,' he told the Huffington Post.

'For me it wasn't so dark and creepy this time around. It was kind of magical.'

When Lawless was photographing the mall in 2012 and 2013 his goal was not to show the mall's magical side but to represent the economic decline of America and especially Ohio.

'The goal was to show the world a different side of America. A vulnerable side. I think an abandoned mall is symbolic of the economic decline of America and is a true indication of what happens when cities like Cleveland suffers massive population loss due to loss of manufacturing jobs,' he told DailyMail.com.

Ice cave: The Rolling Acres mall has been transformed into a snowy wonderland after heavy snowfall

Snowlight: Even though the mall is in a closed space, the snow leaked in through the skylights

Dark: The mall photographed by Lawless a few years ago was much darker without snow even with rays of light inching through the skylight

'Cleveland has lost nearly half its population since these malls opened in the mid-1970,' Lawless added.

'We're not talking white flight here. People fled the state to find jobs and the problem hasn't gotten any better.

'My city is not only losing jobs. We’re losing people and it's frightening. During my recent art curation at the City Club I spent most of that time urging Cleveland residents and city officials to adopt a plan to merge East Cleveland with Cleveland so we can maintain our population, because doing nothing is no longer an option.'

Lawless returned to the malls, which were closed in 2008 and 2009, to document them before demolition crews move in and flatten the buildings later this year. He explained that when North Randall mall was built it was the largest in the world, with 5,000 employees.

'It was such an intricate part of the city that the town is represented by the two shopping bags appearing in the municipal seal,' he said.

Empty: Though people no longer shop in the mall one could build snowmen to fill the space after the storm covered the abandoned shopping center

Snow Globe: Seph Lawless likened the abandoned mall to a real life snow globe

Crumbling: This photograph taken of the abandoned mall without snow for Seph Lawless' book is far less enchanting than the photos of the mall covered in snow

'I chose to focus on malls for this book because I think a mall is a human connector. We all can relate to a mall in a very personal way. We all remember spending time there and for the most part it was in happier times,' Lawless said.

'I remember visiting Santa Claus as a kid at these malls during Christmas and eventually getting my first job at the mall. The mall had character and the architecture was beautiful.'

The once gleaming walkways and modern designs look outdated and grimy in his images, and it is hard to imagine the buildings filled with families and friends enjoying a day out. But when Lawless returned, his memories helped bring the malls back to life.

'Strangely enough as I explored these abandoned malls I found myself acting like a kid all over again. At times jumping up on to nearby fountain ledges trying to balance myself as I became mesmerized all over again by the futuristic skylights that dangled fearlessly over my head.

'It was enough beauty to make your chest feel like it was going to cave in...All over again.'

The self-declared 'artivist', who combines activism through works of art, promotes his work on inequality and injustice through his Facebook and on his Instagram and Twitter accounts.

He said his work often is seen as controversial but that it leads to 'constructive dialogue and healthy debate'.

Spot of hope: The snow breathes new life into the abandoned and dark Rolling Acres Mall

Once busting: The mall once held thousands of people and now is an abandoned snowy terrain

Empty and poor: When Lawless was photographing the mall in 2012 and 2013 his goal was not to show the mall's magical side but to represent the economic decline of America and especially Ohio

Take a look around crumbling Ohio shopping mall (related)