A PROCESSION OF THEM

by Eugene Richards

"Few human beings are subject to as much misunderstanding, cruelty, and neglect as the world's mentally disabled. The mentally retarded are housed with the mentally ill, children with adults, those who are suffering physical illnesses with those who are not. Abuses such as beatings and rapes go unreported or unchecked. In some countries the homeless, the elderly who lack families, epileptics, and petty criminals are also placed in asylums, because they have nowhere else to go." "Confined in unheated, prison-like cells, utilizing filthy toilets, bathing in ice-cold water, heavily medicated, or wandering uncared-for through the garage-like wards, those patients live out their lives in what can only be called the shadows, their plight largely unseen and easily ignored by the rest of the world." Working first as a journalist, later as a volunteer for the human rights and advocacy organization Mental Disability Rights International, photographer Eugene Richards gained access to psychiatric institutions in Mexico, Armenia, Paraguay, Hungary, Kosovo, and Argentina. His wrenchingly intimate images reveal the personalities and tragic beauty of the patients and chronicle the often-inhumane treatment suffered by them. Accompanying the book, A Procession of Them. is a DVD of a short film of the same name. Directed and narrated by Richards, this unique and expressionistic film speaks of the chaos, claustrophobia, and loneliness of these hellish places.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw a display of Eugene Richards' photographs recently at a local museum / photo gallery and was really taken by them. For the most part, his photographs are dark and disturbing yet beautiful. I decided to check out a bunch of his photo books.

This particular collection contains photos in mental hospitals in several countries (none in the U.S.). The photos are all black and white and portray very disturbing scenes of mentally ill patients. They are living in horribly unsanitary conditions. Some people are in what are essentially cages. Many of them are nude. Very sad, very stark photos that really tell a story.

One thing I disliked about this book is that the captions for all the photos were clumped together in the back. I didn't even read them because they should have been with each individual photo so that I knew what I was looking at without having to flip back and forth. All in all though, a fascinating and disturbing look into how the mentally ill are treated.

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing and beautiful. This book is really not everyone cup of tea. Very candid and beautifully taken photos of inmates in various mental institutions and asylum thorough central,south America as well as Kosovo and Hungary. Brutal imagery. A stunning document of neglect and abandonment. The DVD that accompanies the book is so so but the book itself is really a powerful.

[Not Mike]

Hardback.

Vivid images.