23 Years

Kings Park Psychiatric Center (KPPC) is a public park in Kings Park, New York that is especially interesting due to the fact that it is amongst the remains of an abandoned psychiatric center that shut down in 1996. It is a major destination for urban explorers, graffiti artists, ghost hunting enthusiasts, etc. For the Space/Place/Environment project, I wanted to find a location that was especially interesting and KPPC has always been fascinating to me.

The primary theme I wanted to work with for this photoshoot was juxtaposing the decay of the blocky, geometric brick buildings to the unkempt nature growing around them after being left alone for over 23+ years. Out of over 250 photos shot, I selected photos based on the visibility of the sky in the photos as well as the clear appearance of urban decay surrounded by nature. I felt the sky was important in conjunction with the foliage because they are as possibly natural as nature can be and they are enveloping buildings that are as possible unnatural as unnatural can be.