Currently on exhibit at Roosevelt University’s “Gage Gallery” in Chicago, photographer Eugene Richards’ exhibit entitled “A Procession of Them: The Plight of the Mentally Disabled” is sure to draw emotion out of even the most callous of souls. According to Roosevelt University’s website, Richards began his career as a journalist and then later became a volunteer for the human rights organization Mental Disability Rights International. During this time, he toured mental institutions across the countries of Mexico, Argentina, Armenia, Hungary, Paraguay, and Kosovo he compiled a gallery of images that are not only extremely artistic in their quality, but are also very powerful in their message.
The overall mood of the images is very dark as they convey views of mentally ill patients in their prison-like environment conjuring images in the mind that will easily remind viewers of the dark days of World War 2 and the Holocaust. The photos are all presented in a black and white color scheme adding to the tension and lending an old-world quality to the images being portrayed. One of the major themes of the gallery is imprisonment as many of the photos illustrate patients being held behind bars with their glassy eyes holding just a small glimmer of hope that they might be able to span beyond the gap of mental illness and one day connect with the rest of humanity. Another theme revolves around the heavy drugging of these patients through the gut-wrenching images of patients being held down and injected with various psychiatric pharmaceuticals. The power contained within these images is very astounding and one cannot help but feel the temptation to be magnanimous and humane towards these people. Through this gallery we are allowed a glimpse into the horrid lives to which these patients have been contained, but we can also see that they too are human and deserve better treatment than they are being granted.
To view the gallery visit: http://www.roosevelt.edu/gagegallery/
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