I briefly mentioned David Maisel a while ago and wrote about him elsewhere, but what I didn’t mention here is his latest project, Library of Dust.

The project is a collection of pictures of individual copper canisters from the Oregon State Insane Asylum; the copper canisters oxidized and each one expanded and changed colors with the oxidation process. Each individual canister contains the cremated ashes of a patient, all of whom died between 1883 and the 1970s. The canisters’ existence was kept secret until recent years. In fact, many patients’ families kept their mentally handicapped, disabled, or psychiatrically troubled relatives a secret from the outside world. For all intents and purposes, they ceased to exist, and the only proof of such existence is, now, the canisters.