A Tree Called Home is a critical examination of a system built to house and take care of citizens who are judged to be “undesirable” in Russia. Persons with physical and mental disabilities are stigmatized, hidden from the public, and rendered largely invisible in a network of state-run institutions.
Since 2002, Kent Klich has documented the workings of one such institution that houses more than 1,000 people. He also collaborated with Aleksey Sakhnov, an artist and long-term resident whose drawings and photographs, as well as images of his papier-mâché houses, are included here. Leonid Tsoy, a psychologist who worked in the same network of institutions, contributes his study on “The Psychoneurological Asylums in Russia,” focusing on the relationships between normativity and violence. A Tree Called Home also includes an essay, “The Other and US,” by Fred Ritchin, a writer, editor, and curator examining the potentially transformative roles of the image in society.
Specifications: Dogwalk Books ・ 2021 ・ Hardcover ・ 21 x 28 cm. / 286 pages ・ English ・ 978-91-519-8022-5
