Ward 81

by Karen Folger Jacobs, Miloš Forman (Introduction), Mary Ellen Mark (Photographer)

In 1975, photographer Mary Ellen Mark was assigned by The Pennsylvania Gazette to produce a story on the making of Milos Forman's film of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , shot on location at the Oregon State Hospital, a mental institution. While on set, Mark met the women of Ward 81, the only locked hospital security ward for women in the The inmates were considered dangerous to themselves or to others. In February of 1976, just before the ward closed (it ceased to exist in November of 1977, when it became the female section of a coeducational treatment ward), Mark and Karen Folger Jacobs, a writer and social scientist, were given permission to make a more extended stay, living on the ward in order to photograph and interview the women. They spent 36 days on Ward 81, photographing and documenting. Jacobs recalls their slow, inevitable "We felt the degeneration of our own bodies and the erosion of our self-confidence. We were horrified at the thought of what we might become after a year or two of confinement and therapy on Ward 81."

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, Psychology, Mental Health

96 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 1979

Reviews

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've known the most renown of these works for years, but only just now sat down with the book (although, sheepishly, MEM autographed my 2nd edition over a decade ago). Karen Folger Jacobs' text paints a vivid picture of the frenetic energy in Ward 81 that for me ignited so much more emotion in the photos, particularly the quieter ones that I hadn't really seen before carefully studying the book. The images are not captioned - so from the book alone you cannot know which of the pictured subjects is Grace or Dixie or Mary or Henrietta (to name a few of their names), and I am comforted by that. It subdues the discomfort that is easy to find in these pictures: that their work is exploitative, or that I shouldn't be seeing it.
A powerful body of work, and the 2nd edition is beautifully printed by Damiani, with a few additional plates at the end. A good option for those (like myself) who can't afford the 1st ed.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being able to have had the experience of living on a womens' psychiatric ward myself, this book brought alot of good and bad memories back. The photpgraphy work is briliant, haunting and yet dettached and sometimes somewhat disturbing. The women of Ward 81

[Earline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that the written introduction to the photograph collection had more of an impact on me than the photos themselves. While I find the experience of living for 36 days in the woman's ward of the mental institution where One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was filmed very interesting, I can't help but feel that the photographs are exploitative. There were a few photos in this collection that I thought were beautifully composed, while others left an impact merely out of shock value.. but I think the story about these women and the experience of the photographer is more meaningful than any single photo. Perhaps a documentary film would capture the experience more fully.

[Barry Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving photography.
Would have liked a bit more text with more history of the institution to set it in its then current social context. That's partly because my maternal grandmother was institutionalized there years before Mary Ellen Mark was there.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Ellen Mark is an amazing photographer. She does a fantastic job at capturing the human spirit and the human condition.

The introduction is rather long. But it is seriously worth the read. It sets the tone for the following photo essay.

[holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

took a break from fixing a sink to look through this and wish I hadn't.

[Rebecca Renea · Rating 4 out of 5]

intro was great addition to the photographs, epilogue is an eyeopener to the severity of the ward and the life the women live. the photo of the woman who cuts herself is gutwrenching. there Should be more books like this.

[Hope Swigart · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite photography books by one of my favorite controversial photographers. I studied a lot of her work in college.

[Julie Grace Immink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quietly locked inside, the most intimate of all moments.

[margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

made me think about my own bpd diagnosis. should be required reading for anyone with modern female hysteria.