The courtyard

View over the courtyard from the closed emergency psychiatric ward of Zurich University Hospital, Switzerland. It is here shielded from view by a curtain that was drawn on the open window. Zurich, Switzerland, 14 August 2018...During the course of a year-long project about bipolar disorder, I was once embedded in the team of the emergency ward of a very large psychiatry hospital. This ward was closed and some patients denied the right to go out, often for their own safety. During that time, patients have only one horizon: the courtyard, here partly shielded from view by a curtain. In addition to this literal locked-in, patients having the disease are often locked into their own world, not entirely in contact with reality as most people would perceive it. This may make it difficult to interact with them. ..Taken as I was embedded in the unit. Curtain was already drawn to keep away the summer heat. Photographer did not influence the scene in any way, nor gave directions to anyone.