Lessons in Silence

This series documents the remains of a former children’s training school that was closed after the discovery of unethical medical experiments conducted on its residents. Many of the children housed at the institution were abandoned or without family, making them particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Historical records later revealed that some residents were unknowingly exposed to food contaminated with radioactive materials as part of research into the effects of radiation on the human body. Today, the buildings remain largely abandoned. Classrooms, dormitories, and communal spaces sit in quiet decay, marked by peeling paint, broken windows, and the gradual return of nature. Personal traces—such as a child’s dress left hanging in a window or scattered furniture in once-active rooms—offer small reminders of the lives that once occupied these spaces. Rather than depicting the events directly, the photographs focus on the atmosphere left behind. Empty hallways, discarded objects, and fading architecture reveal the silence that follows institutional history. The absence of people becomes central to the narrative, allowing the environment itself to speak to what once occurred within its walls. Through these images, the series reflects on memory, institutional neglect, and the long shadows cast by unethical scientific practices. The photographs invite viewers to consider how places carry history long after the people who experienced it have disappeared.