christopher payne asylum : inside the closed world of state mental hospitals

american architect and photographer christopher paine is documenting abandoned space within a functioning institution. asylum: inside the closed world of state mental hospitals’ is a collection of large-format photographs of seventy institutions in thirty US states, s hot between 2002 and 2008. massive state-funded mental hospitals, built to warehouse the mentally ill, were a feature of the american landscape for centuries. emptied out in the 1970s and 80s, they now sit abandoned, keeping their secrets. since many of these places no longer exist, his photographs serve as their final, ‘official’ record.

the book asylum: inside the closed world of state mental hospitals’ is published by MIT format: 11 3/4 x 10 1/4, 216 pp. features: 111 color photographs, 69 duotone photographs, 61 illustrations, hardcover ISBN-10: 0-262-01349-5 ISBN-13: 978-0-262-01349-9

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‘autopsy theatre’, st.elizabeths SH, washington DC, USA

exteriors designed by famous architects and interiors never intended to be seen again. payne shows how the hospitals functioned as self-contained communities, where almost everything of necessity was produced on site: food, water, power, and even clothing and furniture.

‘bathtub’, fairfield hills state hospital, connecticut, USA

‘bathtubes’, oregon state hospital, oregon, USA

‘patient toothbrushes’, hudson river state hospital, poughkeepsie, NY, USA ______________________________________________________________________

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