Library of Dust

First of all, stop reading and go here. Look through all the pictures. Then come back.

I’m on a magazine kick, so stick with me. I was flipping through the UTNE Reader which, as I said in my last post, is horribly dull so I really wasn’t in the mood to read any of the articles. I came to these pictures and was pretty amazed and confused about what they were (which, of course, forced me to read the article). Turns out, they are old copper cans, filled with CREMATED REMAINS FROM AN INSANE ASYLUM.

Maisel is a photographer whose work “has chronicled the tensions between nature and culture.” Past projects include aerial images of cities captured from low-flying planes. He has examined copper and coal mines, the almost-empty Owens Lake, the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Great Salt Lake. This project, however, has taken a new (and, to me, a slightly disturbing) new look at the ways in which humans interact with their surroundings.

The Oregon State Insane Asylum has around 5,000 copper cans containing the cremated remains of past patients which went unclaimed, and Maisel was eager to get a look at ‘em. The cans had been transferred to an underground storage vault where moisture took its toll and the magic happened. Mineral crusts have emerged from the seams of the cans creating rather beautiful color patterns. Maisel says “I’m not a believer, but they have a kind of continuity…a sense that the individual is somehow continuing, even if it’s in an inorganic state.”

He has arranged several trips to the hospital and managed to photograph each of the cans individually and in natural light to avoid altering the images.

Anyways, I just thought it was a pretty neat project, if a bit creepy, and the images are rather beautiful.