During this last semester I had the opportunity to tour the Oregon State Hospital with my Theory and Practice: Art and Psychology class. Although the newly renovated facility is state of the art and beautifully designed, it was the old abandon campus that bewitched my interest. I was feverishly capturing the emotional impact the environment had on me thus having too many photos to share in one post. Underground tunnels, vacant buildings frozen in time and a landscape that no longer serviced patients physical and emotional needs are some of the topics that I found myself drawn to. This selection represents deserted windows and benches remaining on the old grounds. Some of the old structures have been demolished.
The location was host to the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. Pacific Northwest author Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America, was also committed here in 1955. It now serves a state government department or two but was recently purchased and may be currently totally abandon until the new owners establish themselves. The incredibly creative McMenamin brothers were interested but to my knowledge are not the purchasers.
The children's ward filled my intrigue and collided with my psyche. My imagination bee-lined to invented stories of chaos and whimsy. My vision spangled with images of rambunctious scenes that may have taken place. Children haven't been present on the property since 2003, the institution took focus on adult care at that time. I contemplated sharing my invented stories but when I began to type them seemed insignificant. There are enough tragic stories of mental illness that have caused turmoil in peoples lives. My interpretations would be gravely flawed and not something I'm willing to unleash at this point in time.
A window in the playroom.
A once tranquil place to dwell.
A glimpse to a crisp, misty Pacific Northwest morning from the playroom.
A viewing window in a thick solid wood door into the isolation room in the children's ward. The door was one of two that aided care givers in protecting other patients, themselves and the child in need of extra care. To my knowledge isolation is treated in different ways by today's standards. We weren't allowed to view the resident or treatment quarters in the new building due to privacy policies.
Through the door window into a dusty semi-cluttered space.
On the lower level of the children's ward into a desolate courtyard.
A favorable circumstance for some natural light. Not too many of these exist in the four-miles of tunnels stretched beneath the city of Salem. The tunnels provided a secluded path for getting from building to building. I have had the pleasure in an unrelated circumstance to meet a gentleman who used to work as the transporter of deceased bodies from the main facility to the morgue and crematory. Since our conversations I have learned that many cremated remains still set on shelves, unclaimed for decades.
An American artist who worked on the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975, Mary Ellen Mark, found herself interested in documenting the female patients of OSH in Ward 81. After several attempts to gain legal permission, she lived in the facility for 36 days with an assistant photographing the daily lives of these women.
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