Defectives, Epileptics: United States. Massachusetts. Palmer. State Hospital for Epileptics: Emergency Pillow Bandage. c. 1903

Editor: This is a photograph by Woodhead Studio titled "Defectives, Epileptics: United States. Massachusetts. Palmer. State Hospital for Epileptics: Emergency Pillow Bandage." It's quite unsettling. What strikes you about the image? Curator: The materiality speaks volumes. Note the crispness of the photographic paper, juxtaposed with the coarse texture of the makeshift pillow bandage. It highlights the intersection of institutional care, resourcefulness, and perhaps even a critique of available resources. Editor: So, the materials used directly comment on the subject matter? Curator: Precisely. The photograph itself becomes a material document of the social conditions and the means by which care was administered—or perhaps, withheld. Consider the labor involved, the staged nature, and what that says about the hospital's self-representation. Editor: I never thought about it that way. Curator: Considering art as a product of material processes opens up a different lens.