Defectives, Epileptics: United States. Massachusetts. Palmer. State Hospital for Epileptics: K.B. sewing room. 1907. 1907

Curator: This photograph by Woodhead Studio, taken around 1907, is titled "Defectives, Epileptics: United States. Massachusetts. Palmer. State Hospital for Epileptics: K.B. sewing room." Editor: It’s… unsettling. The vast room, the rows of women sewing. There's a strange quietude, almost spectral. Like a scene from a play, staged for some unseen audience. Curator: The image reveals the institutional practices of the time, where labor was both therapy and a means of control. Notice the supervisors standing watch. Editor: Control indeed. I wonder about the individual stories, the sparks of creativity, or perhaps rebellion, hidden beneath those white aprons and stern gazes. It feels poignant and a little eerie. Curator: Yes, a chilling document, forcing us to confront uncomfortable truths about the treatment of marginalized communities and the power of institutional spaces. Editor: It certainly leaves you pondering the unseen threads connecting us to such hidden histories and the ever-present search for freedom within confinement.