Friday, February 19, 2010

Just call me crazy.

Did mental institutions work: were they a place of refuge and understanding? Or did they make "crazy" people crazier? Photographer Christopher Payne's "Asylum" project sheds some light on the mental institutions of America's past.

Here are some photos from the "Asylum" project:


Matteawan State Hospital, Beacon, New York



Patient Suitcases, Bolivar State Hospital, Tennessee


Patient Toothbrushes, Hudson River State Hospital, New York



Autopsy Theater, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC



Casket and Grave Markers, St. Lawrence State Hospital, New York



Electroencephalograph Machine, Clarinda State Hospital, Iowa




Beauty Salon, Trenton State Hospital, New Jersey

Here is the artist's statement (from his website, http://www.chrispaynephoto.com/asylum.html)

Asylum | Project Statement

Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals
We tend to think of mental hospitals as “snake pits”—places of nightmarish squalor and abuse—and this is how they have been portrayed in books and film. Few Americans, however, 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.

For more than half the nation's history, vast mental hospitals were a prominent feature of the American landscape. From the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth, more than 250 institutions for the insane were built throughout the United States; by 1948 they housed over half a million patients. But over the next thirty years, 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.

From 2002 to 2008, I visited seventy institutions in thirty states, photographing palatial exteriors designed by famous architects and crumbling interiors that appeared as if the occupants had just left. I also 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. Since many of these places have been demolished, the photographs serves as their final, official record.



I am going back the "ex".

New York City of course! I am headed back this afternoon and very much looking forward to seeing old friends and actually feeling like I know where I am :)

Awhile back my brother stayed with me in Brooklyn. He is quite the photographer and took many beautiful shots of my beloved city.

So here is to my brother, to NYC and to a happy weekend!







Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Uplifting:


OK - having one of those down days again. I need happy things to keep my spirits up. And what is happier than balloons? Sure they are a little cheesy. But they are colorful (sometimes) floating objects! Pretty amazing actually.

So here is a post to uplift my spirits and yours! Happy Hump Day.



Amazing balloon sculpture from artist Jason Hackenwerth:





A pretty balloon picture (sorry I had a better version of this on the old computer, RIP)



CELEBRATION!



"Taxi!"


German artist Hans Hermmert:


And of course I must mention the French classic "Le Ballon Rouge" (The Red Balloon)



Saturday, February 13, 2010

Pretty people kissing.

I love kissing. And I just adore black and white kiss photos. Now I am no fool, I know the images below are just fabrications of romantic ideals. But I don't care. Don't they make you want to fall in love? I bet these beautiful people didn't even know each other before their photo shoots....but I would like to believe that perhaps that very day they couldn't help but fall madly in love.


































Happy Valentines to all you hopeless romantics (and you cynics too)!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Alexander the Great

Fashion can be art. Alexander McQueen was an artist.

Here are some of my favorites from Alexander the Great. RIP.













I am not the only one thinking about LACE....

Check it out:
http://laceintranslation.com/video-images

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Thursday, February 4, 2010

My roommate past and my friend present....

Today (and much of this week) I spent part of my day at my friend Kristyn's boutique in Yardley. Kristyn is my ex-roommate from the LES in NYC. We barely knew each other before being roomies. Right when I moved in to the apartment I had decided to go on a spiritual retreat to New Mexico. I had booked the ticket and was all set to go by myself until I told Kristyn all about it and before I knew it she was booking the same flight and off we went on a New Mexican adventure! Complete with white sand dunes, fairy crossings, yoga, energy treatments and lots of bonding.


We left NM so full of positive energy only to get home to an apartment full of MICE!!! LOTS of them. And the worst part was the mice decided to use my bed, under MY pillows as their nest. Lucky for me they left me lots of little presents: TURDS! Now I forgot to mention I am TERRIFIED of the little creatures. Thankfully Kristyn is a real sweetie and let me sleep with her and Bowie until we moved out.

Ok, that was a bit wordy. But the bottom line is Kristyn is wonderful and I am always inspired by her creativity. She is a jewelry designer and a make-up artist. Today we had a little photo session (I felt a little silly, I am not going to lie). She used me as a guinea pig for an upcoming photo shoot. Check it out. I think the make-up looks really pretty and the jewelry too!





Follow Kristyn's blog and be sure to check out her amazing jewelry:
http://kristynapril.blogspot.com/

I wish I was a mermaid....

I have always felt a connection to mermaids - well probably since the third grade when Disney's Little Mermaid came out. I used to have singing competitions with the other girls at recess to see who sounded the most like Ariel.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah......." (I know you are singing along!!!!)

I won - of course, well, I thought so anyway :) Perhaps I was a mermaid in my past life!!!! Oh to be free and swim with my dolphin friends again!


Here is to Ariel and mermaids everywhere.











(underwater photography from Michael Dweck)







A VERY IMPORTANT POST SCRIPT:
On behalf of my dearest dolphin friends please watch the documentary "The Cove".
SAVE THE DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!