The Deinstitutionalization of Rhode Island’s State Hospital for Mental Illness and Retardation

1981

In 1981, I was given carte blanche to photograph the implementation of the de-institutionalization process that transferred patients from the Rhode Island Institute of Mental Health and the Ladd School for Retardation into community group homes. The resulting photographs became a powerful acknowledgment of a human condition filled with hope and despair. The photographs follow the clients from the Institutions into group homes and independent living. The project, entitled Days of Darkness, Days of Hope, helped change people’s attitudes toward the mentally ill and helped people accept them into the community as their neighbors. These are some of the most powerful photographs I have ever taken of such a tormented human condition and how we deal with prejudices towards the handicapped community.