Opened in 1909 the Northern State Asylum housed over 2,000 inmates and killed thousands. Today, the ruins stand as a symbol and reminder of the condition of its patients. Many people incarcerated suffered from conditions considered ‘common’ today, who had just lost the patience of their loved ones – such as ADD.  The grounds were designed by the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm

Since the facility closed, the graffiti left behind reminds us that the choice of whom we considered to incarcerate in these facilities were less toxic than those on the outside today.

These photographs of the facility are intended to convey a feeling of discomfort similar to what people subjugated to the conditions might have felt in their incarceration. The relationship between the man made inside and natural outside defines the existence of the people trapped inside physically and emotionally.