Another old photograph from my archives, taken on my first ever visit to West Park Asylum on the 9th August 2009. This was the most disturbing graffiti in the entire place, quite different from random tags and words daubed onto walls by various visitors since the building became derelict – this was quite obviously painted by some of the patients themselves, possibly as some form of therapy? Were these people given one room in which they could have free rein creatively speaking? Were these words and paintings then analysed by the doctors (especially “Dr Death” of Woodside!) treating the individuals concerned? I wonder if it cathartic to be able to paint the walls in this way?
I felt that the original photograph lacked mood and atmosphere, being shot in very bright sunlight which was pouring through the windows at the time, so I didn’t post it to Flickr back then, and it has been languishing unseen on my computer ever since. Since I have improved my processing technique, and also started using texture overlays, I decided to have another go at it this evening in the hope of creating a darker atmosphere that was empathetic with the subject matter. This now has a slight tone curve adjustment, two separate texture layers overlaid, and finally a brightness/contrast adjustment layer to lift the whole image as the textures made it overly dark. I hope that I have succeeded in making art from the patient’s art ….
Holy cow, Viveca, I must have spent 5 minutes just staring at this. How profound. Your blog sets the perfect tone for the image and you’ve created a full package here today. Astounding, my friend.