Christopher Payne

 Buffalo State Hospital, New York

Christopher Payne is a photographer whom I discovered a couple of years ago because of his work on old mental asylums.  Asylums have always been fascinating to me partly because of my career having been in mental health for a number of years but mostly because abandoned building are the most fascinating thing on earth (to me anyway).  There is something creepily beautiful about the gradual decay and the things that got left behind, particularly in buildings that housed such horrors.

Patient Toothbrushes, Hudson River State Hospital, New York

Patient Suitcases, Bolivar State Hospital, Tennessee

 Beauty Salon, Trenton State Hospital, New Jersey

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

Linen Closets, Traverse City State Hospital, Michigan

All of these photos were taken from Christopher Payne's website which you can find here. He also has a book out called 'Asylum', featuring more of his work inside old mental hospitals as well as an essay by Oliver Stacks.  The book is available here.

Kate

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