My Life as a Lunatic
2019. 16" x 24". Photograph collage printed on archival paper mounted on styrene.
As a young man, my great-grandfather spent 181 days in what was formerly known as the Arkansas Lunatic Asylum. Born December 10th, 1867, in Little Rock, James C. Ward was better known as "Whistling Jim," the eccentric man about town, locally famous for his musical talents. In addition to whistling, Jim was a ball-caller, amateur phrenologist, writer, performer, and according to some, a certified lunatic.
In the United States' history of mental health treatment, the term 'asylum' fell out of fashion by the mid-1900s and was replaced by 'state hospital'. By the early 2000s, most state hospitals were closed, many left abandoned, in tandem with the rise of the pharmaceutical industry. Neuroscience has revealed very little about the cause of mental illnesses, and even less about how they can be treated; indeed, part of the issue lies in being able to define what a 'normal' brain is, because while we all share fundamental similarities, all of our brains are uniquely our own.
A combination of my great-grandfather's theatrical personality and religious fervor led to institutionalization against his own will. After he was released, Jim had a mostly normal life given his history; he had a wife, children (one of whom was my grandmother), and he pursued his numerous and varied passions. He also wrote a book on his time as a mental patient, "Experiences as a Lunatic: A True Story," published in 1902. Unfortunately, his life was cut short - he found himself back in the asylum at the age of 60, where he sustained such brutal injuries that he died.
I have no doubt that Jim's book played a cause in his death (he worried aloud in his text, more than once, that he feared retributions from asylum staff). I have no doubt that Jim was an unruly patient, frustrated with a label which he did not feel he deserved. I have no doubt that Jim had a full, rich, strange, hyper-imaginative mental life which seemed odd from an outside perspective. We are 12.5% of our great-grandparents; I have no doubt that my relation to Jim, at least in part, sparked my deep interest in neuroscience and the construct of the mind.
Buildings are containers for the history which occurred within them. "My Life as a Lunatic," a photographic collage series, combines text from Jim's book with images from abandoned mental asylums.
In the United States' history of mental health treatment, the term 'asylum' fell out of fashion by the mid-1900s and was replaced by 'state hospital'. By the early 2000s, most state hospitals were closed, many left abandoned, in tandem with the rise of the pharmaceutical industry. Neuroscience has revealed very little about the cause of mental illnesses, and even less about how they can be treated; indeed, part of the issue lies in being able to define what a 'normal' brain is, because while we all share fundamental similarities, all of our brains are uniquely our own.
A combination of my great-grandfather's theatrical personality and religious fervor led to institutionalization against his own will. After he was released, Jim had a mostly normal life given his history; he had a wife, children (one of whom was my grandmother), and he pursued his numerous and varied passions. He also wrote a book on his time as a mental patient, "Experiences as a Lunatic: A True Story," published in 1902. Unfortunately, his life was cut short - he found himself back in the asylum at the age of 60, where he sustained such brutal injuries that he died.
I have no doubt that Jim's book played a cause in his death (he worried aloud in his text, more than once, that he feared retributions from asylum staff). I have no doubt that Jim was an unruly patient, frustrated with a label which he did not feel he deserved. I have no doubt that Jim had a full, rich, strange, hyper-imaginative mental life which seemed odd from an outside perspective. We are 12.5% of our great-grandparents; I have no doubt that my relation to Jim, at least in part, sparked my deep interest in neuroscience and the construct of the mind.
Buildings are containers for the history which occurred within them. "My Life as a Lunatic," a photographic collage series, combines text from Jim's book with images from abandoned mental asylums.
All images © Julia Buntaine Hoel