Sunday Exhibit: Photos of Abandoned Asylums

UK photographer Mark Davis spent six years traveling to abandoned former Victorian-era mental institutions and researching their histories and photographing them for his new book Asylum. “These buildings and its patients were often hidden from the public,” Davis tells Metro, which also features a selection of his photos.

“You only hear of the most grotesque of cases but many people committed to asylums were in there suffering from illnesses such as depression due to loss of a husband or even their job,” says Davis. “To make these situations even more harrowing to hear is that once a person entered one of the asylums, it was very likely they would not come out even when cured.”

Abandoned psychiatric wards are backdrop for creepy/beautiful new book Asylum (Metro, September 4, 2014)

Asylum – A Look Inside The Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Mark Davis Photography)