Paperwhites, Again
This batch is just starting to blossom. Five bulbs for less than 5 bucks. It is simply the easiest and cheapest way to momentarily escape the winter. A glass bowl, some small stones, a few bulbs, a bit of water, et voila!
Willard Suitcases / William G
I uploaded William G’s case to the willardsuitcases.com site today. There is a lot of history here. The Fort Randolph towels give a hint as to where his military service occurred. And he must have had some connection to the Boy Scouts.
You can check out more of what he chose to bring to Willard with him here. This is one of my favorite collections.
Willard Suitcases / Henry S / Prints
I keep moving along with uploading cases to the site. This morning I was working on Henry S’s beautiful old leather case and was reminded that when we shot it, there was some confusion as to the contents.
At first it seemed possible that this was Henry’s collection of nuts (many of the patients were allowed to walk around the grounds at Willard). But on closer inspection we saw the small hole at the back left of the case which indicated that some small critter was using it as a cache for its nutritional needs.
I am often asked if prints of the project are for sale, and I have finally set up the system to be able to buy them. Just go to the site and click on a case, then click the image, then click the blue button “Add to Cart”. There are three sizes available, all on archival matte paper, printed and signed by me. The images look great on a computer screen, but the prints are something else entirely. Similar to the Kickstarter appeals, all proceeds go directly back into the project. I would be grateful for the support.
French Chicken in a Pot / Vera Louise Krieghoff
Late yesterday afternoon I made a French chicken in a pot. I haven’t made it in a while and it was terrific. In the evening as I was finishing washing up my mom’s well and tree platter, I turned it over and saw this inscription, which I had never noticed. It was a bit confusing at first, as I was pretty sure it was a wedding gift, but on that day (June 18, 1940) she became Vera Louise Crispin and forever gave up Vera Louise Krieghoff. (She was proud to have become Mrs. Robert L. Crispin; in fact when the ways of addressing women started to change in the early 70s and she would get mail addressed to MS Vera Crispin, she would write on the envelope “no one at this address by that name” and return it to the post office. She had a tremendous sense of humor and was in her own way quite subversive.)
I am guessing it could have been a wedding shower gift given to her sometime before the big day. Here is the mark on the back, but unfortunately the top is obscured and I can’t tell who made it. If any of you recognize it, I would very much like to know.
Willard Suitcases / Margaret D
On Tuesday, Peg and I started in on Margaret D’s cases. By all accounts she came to Willard with her entire household, which included a car. There is so much of hers in the collection that we literally did not know where or how to start. The first shot we took is of this remnant of a shipping label, and it seemed as good a place as any to begin. She came to Willard from the Mount Morris TB Hospital, but I haven’t yet seen anything with a date on it to know for sure when she arrived.
It will take us weeks to get through her things, but now that we have started, I feel excited to proceed. I will continue to post about her as we move ahead.
My son Peter sent me a link to an interesting article in Sunday’s Washington Post. It is about a woman who struggles with a lot of the same issues that many Willard patients must have experienced. Here is the link.
Willard Suitcases / Henry L
I have just uploaded a few more cases to the willardsuitcases.com site. Henry L’s cardboard box is one of the more interesting in the collection. This photograph was in the Exploratorium exhibit, and it is one that my friend Alex Ross printed at about 48 inches wide. It looks amazing huge.
Peg is back from her travels, and we hope to begin shooting again sometime this week. We are both eager to get back to it.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Willard Suitcases / Thomas Y
One of my goals in the early part of this year is to work very hard at uploading the cases to willardsuitcases.com. Today I edited Thomas Y’s case. Here is a shot of one of the locks. Sometimes I find myself just opening and closing them over and over; the sound can be very evocative.
When I started this project, I truly had no idea of the way that it could touch people. On a daily basis I get email and comments from folks who stumble across the photos online. I save them all, and sometimes I am awed by how the work is perceived by people whose lives have been touched by mental illness. Today, a comment was posted by Daphne and since it was put up publicly, I hope that she won’t mind if I quote her here.
“I just saw this. oh my, I am so humbled for those who you make alive and human again. They were just like us in many ways. To be shrunk into ONE suitcase…is beyond me. I have a lifetime of mental illness in my family, and I have to say, they are just like us…all in all…as you show. Thank you.”
No, Daphne…..thank you.
Ben’s Chili Bowl / Codmother
I’m in DC for the weekend before heading out to Tilghman for a few days. Last night Peter and I went over to U Street for some eats. I couldn’t be this close to Ben’s without stopping in for a Half Smoke. It was amazing.
Afterwards, he wanted to take me to Codmother for fish and chips. What a place. Great fish though.
As I was driving down of Friday and listening to BBC Radio 4, I heard this commentary by A.L. Kennedy and found it interesting. You can either read it here, or better yet listen to the podcast here. I found it very touching.
Big Stick and Chelle’s Kickstarter
When we are on our walks in the woods, Olive is in the habit of picking up a stick and dragging it back to the house. She dug this one out of the snow the other day. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t manage it, but to my amazement she succeeded. Without any exaggeration, I would have to say it was at least 12 feet long and quite heavy.
One of my suitcase backers from Australia, Chelle Destefano, has just put up a kickstarter appeal, and it looks interesting. I would encourage any of you who are interested in abandoned spaces to check it out here.
Willard Suitcases / LaVerne W and abcnews.com
This photograph is from the last shoot of 2014. LaVerne’s case held an amazing collection of postcards from Europe and some very interesting personal photographs. / Due to scheduling issues, Peg and I and won’t be able to get back to the project until later this month, but we are on the home stretch with the suitcases. I would estimate that we have photographed at least 350 of the roughly 400 cases and it feels great. The next phase (along with continuing to edit and upload to the site) will be to start talking to publishers and galleries.
Some very good news about coverage of the work. In mid December I started to see an up tic in traffic on the web, and I have been receiving lots of interest and great feedback. Just this morning abcnews.com ran a selection of the images. It is featured quite high on their main page and here is the direct link. Thanks so much to Kate at ABC News for her interest.
And a very interesting site in Brazil just ran a long article on the project. The InstitutoMoreiraSalles (IMS) runs an online magazine called ZUM and they did a great job putting the piece together. Here is the link. If any of you read Portuguese, let me know how it sounds.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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