• Home
  • Covid
  • Current Images
  • New York
  • Major Projects
  • Ferry Tales
  • Commissions
  • Centenary of World War 1
  • Antarctica
  • Steam trains
  • Street Photography
  • Saemangeum
  • Portraits and Nudes
  • Contact Me
  • Emporium
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Links
  • Model Trains
Charles J. Page: documentary photographer

Yubu Island Asylum, South Korea

In April 2006 I was documenting a controversial wetland reclamation project along the Yellow Sea coast of South Korea. The project necessitated a visit to Yubu Island, a small fishing community several kilometres off the coast, where I subsequently discovered an abandoned insane asylum. The building was a concrete utilitarian structure, surrounded by an imposing grey wall. While exploring the interior of the building I came across the administration office. In the centre of the room was a pile of documents that had been dumped but never disposed of.
I was intrigued to find patient records with identification photographs attached, further searching revealed a variety of small photographs and identity cards. I was reminded that photography can serve as a utilitarian documentation and yet under different circumstances those same images become a poignant reminder of the residents who once occupied this foreboding place. On a notice board there were photographs of a social function held more than ten years ago, the hospital closed in 1995. All of the photographs that I found were faded and affected by the harsh climate of Yubu Island, the indistinct and anonymous nature of the images seem to personify the sadness of this remote place.
I decided to collect all of the photographic material I could find and bring it back to Australia.
 The images from Yubu represent a unique documentation; they were originally taken purely for identification, much like a passport image. However they are now the only record of the inhabitants of the hospital, visual artefacts, left behind and discarded as worthless.

Return to major projects
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.