“The Nurse’s House”
By Michelle Cox
April 2010

My love is interior photography, but most specifically desolate and neglected interiors. I see these areas for their details. I love to draw attention to the most tiny and seemingly insignificant items. I feel as though there are stories to be told, memories to be heard and history to be recorded in many items that are just left by the wayside.

The building in my project is called “The Nurse’s House”. It is located in Crown Point, Indiana. It was built in the mid-1940s for the nurse’s of the Crown Point jail mental patient unit during the outbreak of “the white plague” at that time. It was necessary for these nurses to stay quarantined from the townspeople. Shortly after the threat of the sickness was gone, the building was abandoned. It is now on “lease hold” with Gloria Tuohy, owner of the Indiana Ballet Theater. She is trying to have the building restored and converted into an art gallery, small theater and ballet studio. She holds “lease hold” for 3 more years, and in that time, needs to get the place to working order in order to keep custody of it. I have spoken with Gloria many times about the condition of the building and her need for funds, and in the last several months have become a board member for the I.B. Theater to help get this plan completed.

As you can see through the images, there are a lot of necessary changes that need to occur structurally and aesthetically. My goal for this project was to take a photo journalistic approach to this building’s current state of brokenness and need but yet also show its true beauty, character and potential.  This particular project was a challenge for me. It was the first time that I walked into an abandoned building with the goal of telling one single story through multiple images, yet still telling a separate tale in each frame.

When I first walked into the house, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of “what once was”. I could see what things looked like before time took its toll and for me, I wanted to see it that way again. I walked from room to room and chose very carefully how I wanted to showcase it. Not only are the images powerful with colors and content but the shadows in contrast to light are supposed to create conflict in the eye of the viewer. There is irony in the beauty and the destruction, yes, but there is more than that. I used the lighting of every image to create harsh shadows followed by bright lighting situations. To me, light represents life and darkness is the gloom of death. There is a cross between life and death in every image presented. I used that contrast to create unrest in the eye and mind of the viewer.

Every artifact that I photographed was shown how it was found. As the artist, I wanted to create beauty but I let the building speak for itself. I want others to see how powerful and lovely this house really is. I want to show them something that they might never otherwise see. This is a side of life that is very literally dying before our eyes and yet, it is untapped life and beauty that could be utilized again.

As a photographer my primary goal has always been to shed light on the forgotten and use them as components of stories. I want all of these dying places to live again once more before they are gone forever. That is the basis for this series. In the future I hope to have the opportunity and ability to convey the same message in all my work. To those that see my work I want to show this issue, the carelessness that we have left behind, however I also want to show them that there is hope. This is a widespread dilemma, we have the opportunities to come together and change this problem.

If I am the winner of Photographer of the Year, I have a plan for the scholarship. To my understanding the prize can only be used toward tuition at the school, however I plan on matching it myself and donating all that I would win to the Indiana Ballet Theater for the restoration of “The Nurse’s House”.  I have stronger conviction possibly than I should however since the organization is in such need, I feel as though I could not rightfully accept the funds. The house speaks very clearly of its needs through the images that I shot and I feel that the best way I could use the scholarship is to help make change happen. I desire others to see what I saw and feel what I felt. I am not so very connected to the building and this project, to the point that there is no other option for me but to donate the funds for the restoration and benefit of this building. I need to listen to the convictions in my heart and fight for the cause that I support.

The road to The Nurses House....