Of noble institutions

Between 2002 and 2008, photographer Christopher Payne was granted access to seventy mental institutions in thirty states to document the architectural structures built to offer refuge, therapy and healing. The buildings were part of a grand experiment in mental health care that lasted for over a century. Challenging the common portrayal of mental hospitals, Payne’s compelling photos are a record of these places, many of which are abandoned, and of the former self-contained communities inside their walls. The traveling exhibit, which has an accompanying book, Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals, runs through Sunday, November 16.

Wood County Historical Center & Museum, 13660 County Home Rd., Bowling Green. 419-352-0967. woodcountyhistory.org Free

Between 2002 and 2008, photographer Christopher Payne was granted access to seventy mental institutions in thirty states to document the architectural structures built to offer refuge, therapy and healing. The buildings were part of a grand experiment in mental health care that lasted for over a century. Challenging the common portrayal of mental hospitals, Payne’s compelling photos are a record of these places, many of which are abandoned, and of the former self-contained communities inside their walls. The traveling exhibit, which has an accompanying book, Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals, runs through Sunday, November 16.

Wood County Historical Center & Museum, 13660 County Home Rd., Bowling Green. 419-352-0967. woodcountyhistory.org Free