William Head
headphotographic@gmail.com 07915 918162
Humane Errors. Vol.1
People with mental illnesses have been treated with suspicion and marginalized from society throughout history. With asylums often built on the outskirts of society, the strategic placing of mental institutions was certainly intentional.Talgarth mental institution opened in 1903 and was home to many patients for just under one hundred years. In the year 2000 it was closed, the buildings were locked up and the remaining patients sent elsewhere.Each ward has its own selection of wallpapers, almost always representative of the outside world. They suggest a great deal of optimism but they hide a terrifying reality. The repetition of pattern reflects the uniformity of the institution. Inside Talgarth lay the remains of myriad dead birds. Before the windows were bolted up and the doors screwed shut they entered the vacant buildings. It is a potent metaphor for the hundreds of patients that were contained in Talgarth. The birds tender a different narrative to the wallpapers. They offer us a more accurate perception of Talgarths history.The Bird carcasses are evidence of the last living thing within Talgarth, by embellishing these birds in my photographs, my intention is to talk about a part of its history. The work is also an attempt to talk about experience and, through this, I hope to convey a sense of empathy for the residences that were enclosed within Talgarths wards. By placing the birds next to the wallpapers I intend to create a space in which the clinical positioning and treatment of mentally unstable patients, can meet the harsh reality of life in a mental institution throughout the 20th century.
People with mental illnesses have been treated with suspicion and marginalized from society throughout history. With asylums often built on the outskirts of society, the strategic placing of mental institutions was certainly intentional.Talgarth mental institution opened in 1903 and was home to many patients for just under one hundred years. In the year 2000 it was closed, the buildings were locked up and the remaining patients sent elsewhere.Each ward has its own selection of wallpapers, almost always representative of the outside world. They suggest a great deal of optimism but they hide a terrifying reality. The repetition of pattern reflects the uniformity of the institution. Inside Talgarth lay the remains of myriad dead birds. Before the windows were bolted up and the doors screwed shut they entered the vacant buildings. It is a potent metaphor for the hundreds of patients that were contained in Talgarth. The birds tender a different narrative to the wallpapers. They offer us a more accurate perception of Talgarths history.The Bird carcasses are evidence of the last living thing within Talgarth, by embellishing these birds in my photographs, my intention is to talk about a part of its history. The work is also an attempt to talk about experience and, through this, I hope to convey a sense of empathy for the residences that were enclosed within Talgarths wards. By placing the birds next to the wallpapers I intend to create a space in which the clinical positioning and treatment of mentally unstable patients, can meet the harsh reality of life in a mental institution throughout the 20th century.
Images & Text © 2010 William Head