Unclaimed

This project I titled ‘Unclaimed’ came to me while I was walking through the cemetery taking photographs that gave Francesca Woodman vibes for a class project. Fairly close to the entrance are two giant lots of headstones from an old tuberculosis hospital that was in use from 1889 to the c. 1960s, then went on to be the International Typographical Headquarters until 1986 when it became the Printing, Publishing, and Media Workers Sector of the CWA. c.2010s the building was bought by a private nursing home until 2021 when it was abandoned.

Two sections mark the beginning of the tuberculosis patients’ headstones. The number of people that died without anyone to claim their bodies was a heartbreaking moment. All the headstones indicated when they were born and when they died, children and elderly alike. These unclaimed people now rest in front of a cemetery but only see visitors pass by on their way to the most recent plots.

This project was my way of remembering them so they are not forgotten and go unclaimed.