Mary Ellen Mark’s “Ward 81”

I chose an image from Mary Ellen Mark’s series titled “Ward 81”. The image depicts a patient in a psychiatric ward receiving shock treatment to their brain while women, who were likely nurses or women of the church such as nuns, are seen holding the patient down. This image and the other images of “Ward 81” depict the horrid conditions that psychiatric patients were kept under, by hospitals. Where the photographer places the viewer, it is almost as if you are in the room with them. The viewer might not even be just a bystander, as it feels like you are also one of the people holding down this patient. I think because of the situation that the photographer places you in, this is a very hard image to look at but it is very powerful.