Originally opened in 1848 it was the first psychiatric institution built in Wales. A series of renovations and extensions were made between 1867 and 1956 housing 1,500 patients until it was closed in 1995.
In 2004 the Prince of Wales delivered a speech detailing the Phoenix Trust, protecting the historic building from being demolished. It was later planned to be developed into private homes.
Over the recent years their have been a series of thefts from the compound, with people stealing lead linings from the roofs of the buildings causing the buildings to decay. The structure of the buildings has increasingly deteriorated over the years with ceilings collapsing and wildlife growing within.
This was a fantastic opportunity to take some striking photographs for our latest collaborative practice project. The small team we had established set off for the asylum and photographed a range of subjects. These are my select few which will likely be included in the final exhibition.
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| Sinister Hallway |
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| Lonely Chair |
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| Collapsed Flooring |
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| Former Kitchen |
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| Lockers and Gas Tank |
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| Torn Screens |
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| Pillar Hallway |
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| Peeling Floor Tiles |
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| Unsafe Staircase |
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| Peeling Wall |
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| Smashed Window |
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| Kitchen Skylight |
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| Hidden Lockers |
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| Kitchen Entrance |
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| Way Out? |
While on the photoshoot around the asylum, we found a large number of documents left to decompose. This seemed like an opportunity to take some and use in our final exhibition to help enhance the theme.
These scans are only a sample of the range of documents obtained:
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| Patient Records |
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| Patient's Personal Document |
Our collaborative practice team are currently discussing how we should display our final prints in the exhibition area.
The exhibition will take place outside of the university's art and design building, this is a great opportunity to gain some interest in our work. With constant traffic throughout the building; many people will inevitably see our final photos.
The location is strong however how we will place the images is another issue. Being part of a team will require us to all agree on how the images should be printed and be displayed. I feel for the images to have a strong effect on the viewer the size will be important, if the images were too small then they would go unnoticed, but too large and the images could become distorted.
This is the area where our exhibition will take place:
I will add my range of ideas in the images in another post to show what I intend to achieve from this site.
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