The DPA Work

Meer over het boek

Beginning in 1985, the Manchester-based Documentary Photography Archive (DPA) commissioned photographers to capture aspects of British society in northern England. Tom Wood’s work focuses on the life and demise of two significant institutions near Liverpool: Rainhill Psychiatric Hospital and Cammell Laird shipyard. Established in 1851 as a lunatic asylum, Rainhill became the largest hospital complex in Europe by 1936. Wood began photographing there in the 1980s when UK policy shifted towards “Care in the Community.” By then, Rainhill had diminished, with wards combining various patients. The DPA and mental-health charity Mind, which criticized conditions at Rainhill as “wholly unacceptable,” asked Wood to document the hospital’s closure and the transition of its patients into the community. Cammell Laird shipyard, with a history dating back to the 1820s, was known for building famous warships and aircraft carriers, including HMS Ark Royal. When Wood photographed the yard, it was facing closure, with a demoralized workforce striving to save their jobs as HMS Unicorn, the last Upholder-class submarine, was completed. The main volumes of Wood’s work include historical archive material related to both institutions, while a third volume features late nineteenth-century photographs of Rainhill patients. Together, they document a period of upheaval in Liverpool marked by industrial decline, community breakdown, and evolving healthcar