Within These Walls
“We made meals, offered care, and over time, became vessels for their anxiety and neuroses.”
For fifty years, my wife’s parents owned and operated a home for ex-psychiatric patients; a community reintegration program run as a house, not an institution. From 2021 to 2024, my wife and I – along with our two small children – took over operations and lived at the home with twelve residents. We made meals for them, offered care, and over time, we became vessels for their anxiety and neuroses. Through this encounter, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of my wife Leah’s experience of growing up in this home with her family, and the home itself has become a character in this story.
If I could use one concept to describe what I think the residents lack most in their lives, it would be ‘being seen’. Being seen not as someone with a deficiency or something missing, but as someone who is whole. The residents are beautiful, complex, interesting, and relevant people who struggle—but they are complete, just as we all are.
While this series centres on individuals living with mental illness, the questions it raises reach further. Society often operates through quiet systems of judgment—measuring who is seen as whole, valuable, or relevant. These patterns are subtle but enduring. They shape who belongs and who is left out. In a time of growing fracture, I hope these images point toward the complexity and fragility of our collective mental health—while offering the residents a space to be seen and feel represented.
Millie in Smoking Section
Medicine Cabinet
Last Supper Needle Point
Rolodex
Dresser Detail
Stained Glass with Shower Chair
Lori
Leah with Laundry
