Der in New York lebende Dokumentar-Fotograf Christopher Payne hat 70 verlassene psychatrische Krankenhäuser in 30 US-Bundesstaaten besucht und fotografiert:
"I [...] documented how the hospitals functioned as self-contained cities, where almost everything of necessity was produced on site: food, water, power, and even clothing and shoes [...] Few Americans [...] realize these institutions were once monuments of civic pride, built with noble intentions by leading architects and physicians, who envisioned the asylums as places of refuge, therapy, and healing [...] With the introduction of psychotropic drugs and policy shifts toward community-based care, patient populations declined dramatically, leaving many of these massive buildings neglected and abandoned."Einen Teil der zwischen 2002 bis 2008 entstandenen Fotos – 31 Stück – sind auf seiner Webseite zu sehen: Christopher Payne: Asylum. Das Gesamtwerk ist als Buch unter dem Titel "Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals" erschienen [Amazon-Link].
(via Design You Trust via TrendLand)
