Library of Dust is an art project by David Maisel. It is a series of photographs of thousands of copper canisters discovered in a derelict outbuilding at the former Oregon State Insane Asylum. Each canister holds the cremated remains of a patient who died at the hospital between 1883 and the 1970s and whose families didn’t claim them.
Each canister is corroded, with bright colours from the corrosion and (I suspect) remaining mineral content from the contents leeching through the case. Each one is as unique as the nameless person it now holds.
Gave me the shivers.
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