Yana Paskova - Photojournalist, Writer, Editor

Travel: Beginnings: A Dark Room

- A Psychiatry Ward: A Second Home (Bulgaria) 

In this underfunded Eastern European institution, the struggles of body compound those of the mind: lack of vermin control, security personnel, mental stimulation and treatment, and basic amenities, such as bed sheets, medicine and dining utensils. Despite the gaping needs of the ward, a majority of patients return for at least a second and a third visit. Many women say they prefer a ward bed as escape to physical abuse at home; others shelter from the stigma against mental illness common to the country, alongside alienation from family, friends and employment. In other words, a second home.  

Photographed as personal work, in my home country 

  • A patient slams a Bulgarian coin on his forehead and says, “Money controls everything. Money is why I am here. Money is why I will never get out. We have no voice here; only money speaks,” in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 10, 2006.
  • A patient smokes a cigarette in the empty hallway of the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 20, 2007. Coffee and cigarette breaks are amongst the only methods of entertainment and distraction in the ward.
  • A patient sleeps in a room that can accommodate six occupants of both genders in a psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria, on August 03, 2006. He says the mattress underneath him is at least ten years old, and he complains it is difficult to sleep on it because it is ”infested with fleas.” All of his belongings -- including clothes, shoes, food utensils and bed sheets -- he brought from home because the hospital could not provide any of them.
  • Dirty sheets lay crumpled on a patient's bed in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 23, 2007.
  • A nurse prepares an injection for an unstable patient who burst through the doors in the evening hours in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 08, 2006. Both the hospital and the patients contribute to payment for the general supply of drugs.
  • A female patient stares at the ceiling while laying in bed for an afternoon nap in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 16, 2007.
  • Female patients talk about their family lives and about dealing with manic depression in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 23, 2007.
  • A female patient glances up at an insect-lined sticky strip above her bed in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 23, 2007.
  • A patient stares at himself in the bathroom mirror of the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 30, 2007.
  • After sitting on a couch in the hallway for hours, a patient spirals down the stairs and toward the door leading out of the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 30, 2007. A possible schizophrenic (according to the medical staff,) she rubs her face and hands repeatedly, asking whether her food is being poisoned.
  • A patient hangs around, motionless, by the peeling walls against the sunset-outlined window shadow in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 03, 2006.
  • Patients dine in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 16, 2007.
  • A nurse pours soup gathered in a bucket into the plates of patients in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 30, 2007.
  • A female patient walks down the darkened, empty hallway in the psychiatry ward of a county hospital in Bulgaria on August 20, 2007.
  • INTRO
  • Photo Editing | Project Management | Grant Work | Fundraising
    • Ezras Nashim - Helping Women
    • Where Women Rule - Widows of Varanasi
    • The Power of Poo
    • Democracy + Communism
      • 1. Bulgaria: 25 Years After Democracy
      • 2. Cuba: Communism Relived
      • 3. Cuba + Bulgaria, in Layers
  • New Yorkers
    • Before Times
    • After Times
    • City Monochrome
  • People, in Portrait
  • Politics
    • U.S. Presidential Campaign Trails (in chronology)
    • Trump Gawkers
  • Travel
    • Liquid Rose Gold
    • Everywhere
    • Indian Kushti
    • Beginnings: A Dark Room
  • Fashion + The Arts
    • Fashion
    • The Arts
  • In Print
  • :: About me
  • :: Contact
  • :: Copyright Agreement

All images and text on this website are protected under domestic and international copyright laws. Copyright: Yana Paskova © 2005-2022. Site design © 2010-2022 Neon Sky Creative Media