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Alarmed Flowers 
Alarmed Flowers 
2017 

Alarmed Flowers was an investigation lead project carried out between 2016-2017. The project merged both my fascination of derelict buildings together with the history of the locations and how that history in the present day is disrespected and 'hidden' away due to the location sites horrendous past of torture and abuse, now a middle class housing estate and a family pub in the renovated part of the original building, grade 2 listed. 

 ST MARY'S ASYLUM Stannington, Morpeth. Once a hospital for the 'mentally ill', from a gastropub, to a 'luxurious hotel' in 2021, with very little of the original history remaining on site.  

The artwork featured glass engravings of the buildings, alongside other local asylum 'memorial pieces' pieces from Cherry Knowles, Storthes Hall, Stanley Royd, West Pauper Lunatic Asylum, High Royds Hospital and St Lukes Hospital. 

Materials used, Primary photography on a kodak disposable. Glass engraving tool, Various oxides and glazes fired in the kiln, different materials such as wire, flowers and photographs fired alongside in between glass found at the location in the kiln. 

All materials were found on site. (Scroll for more info) 

 "This new build estate is so posh

I bet even the flowers have alarms on them" 

And just like that I found the name for this project 

The investigation took a matter of months to carry out, including numerous trips to different sites where former hospitals stood and a visit to Wakefield's Mental Health Museum for more insight. The aim of this project was to link former asylum buildings and their building designs including panopticon and relating that to new architecture and comparison to the new 'digital' age and one nation under CCTV strategy. 

 Humanity are all residents of the 'New asylum'. That being the digital society that has been constructed for our 'own benefits'. The people deemed insane, are the ones who wise up to the master plan. 

A place where people once suffered profound abuse, hysteria and pro-longed suffering with inhumane medical experiments, is now wiped away. On the same grounds that once stood St Mary's psychiatric Hospital 1914-1995, took over by residential property developers Bellway, who seemingly get their hands on a lot of land where it involves listed buildings. A middle class housing estate 'St Mary's Park' was build over it. The grade II listen building, converted into a gastro-pub. 

 

"I feel disrespectful towards the history and the former patients who suffered here, as I'm indulging in a home-cooked meal surrounded by laughter and wealthy families, the history has been stripped, there's no memorial plaques or anything about the original purpose of the building I am sat eating a meal in the diagnosis room, where most people never saw 'society' again. It is not ok"  

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