I stumbled across this wonderful article containing really moving photographs of the suitcases and belonging of the patients at a psychiatric institution between 1910-1960.
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| From Collectors Weekly |
"If you were committed to a psychiatric institution, unsure
if you’d ever return to the life you knew before, what would you take with you?
That sobering question hovers like an apparition over each of the Willard
Asylum suitcases. From the 1910s through the 1960s, many patients at the
Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane left suitcases behind when they
passed away, with nobody to claim them. Upon the center’s closure in 1995,
employees found hundreds of these time capsules stored in a locked attic.
Working with the New York State
Museum, former Willard staffers were able to preserve the hidden cache of
luggage as part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Photographer Jon Crispin has long been
drawn to the ghostly remains of abandoned psychiatric institutions. After
learning of the Willard suitcases, Crispin sought the museum’s
permission to document each case and its contents. In 2011, Crispin
completed a successful Kickstarter
campaign to help fund the first phase of the project, which he
recently finished. Next spring, a selection of his photos will accompany the
inaugural exhibit at the San Francisco Exploratorium’s new location."
To read more about the project and an interview with the photographer - click here
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| From Collectors Weekly |
