America in ruins: how States of Decay captures beauty in derelict buildings - in pictures

Asylum, New Jersey
Peeling paint turns a wall into a mosaic, while a noticeboard carries a message at a former psychiatric hospital in New Jersey. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Asylum, New York
Plastic play balls line the corridor of a psychiatric hospital in New York. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Cathedral, Pennsylvania
A defaced frieze of the last supper in a Catholic church, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Hotel, New York
Staff quarters in an abandoned hotel in New York state. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Resort, New York Sun loungers next to a pool where creepers have begun to reclaim the space for nature, at a Jewish resort in New York state's Catskill mountains. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Elementary school, Pennsylvania
Rainwater pools in the top-floor locker hall of a former elementary school in Pennsylvania. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Elementary school, Pennsylvania
An overturned piano in a crumbling school. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Coal breaker, Pennsylvania
Forgotten workers' boots stand sentry in the changing rooms of a coal breaker in Pennsylvania. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Cell block, Penitentiary, Pennsylvania Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which closed in the 1970s. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Sanatorium, New York
This sanatorium was the largest and most expensive of its kind when it was completed in the 1930s. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Movie theatre, Connecticut
This early 20th-century cinema was one of the biggest of its time in Connecticut. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Grain Elevator, New York
The lower hall of a grain storage facility in western New York state. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Church, Pennsylvania A former Baptist church. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix

Church, Pennsylvania The abandoned altar. Photograph: Barter and Marbaix