888

Tilman Barnett. George Maxwell. Moses Harris. Mary Riley. Catharine G. Latimer. William Reynolds. James H. Hall. Daniel Ashmore. Mrs. Joel. Louisa Ansley. John Smith. John A. Nelson. Juliana Mayer. Margaret Cavenough. John Wade.

These names are the first 15 patients admitted into Central State Hospital (originally called Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum). The facility was open from 1842-2010 in Milledgeville, GA. The first eight hundred and eighty-eight patients that were admitted were categorized as a lunatic for reasons such as religious excitement, inclination to study, jealousy, disappointed affection, and intemperance. Out of these men, women, and children; 38 escaped, 409 died, 143 were cured, 45 were removed by friends or family, 27 readmitted, and 226 of these patients files were incomplete (admittance date but no account to what happened to them).

888 uses data visualization to recount these records. I used different types of wood to represent what happened to each patient. Red represents escaped, black walnut is for the patients that died, hickory shows how many were cured, poplar is for the patients that were removed by friends or family, eastern red cedar is for those who were readmitted, and ambrosia maple is for the unknown. The heights depend on the length of stay of each patient, 1/16” equals one month. The longest stay was by Harriet Gadis, her block is 47 1/4 inches, which equals 63 years and 22 days. 888 is a dedication of sorts, a way to individualize the people that were thrown into this type of facility and in a lot of cases forgotten about.

Using Format