ABSTRACT
This essay investigates photographs taken at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum during the superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees from 1890 to 1907.1 It examines two specific sets of photographs: first, the photographs taken for public consumption, and, second, the casebook photographs of the patients.2 Greenlees constructed a public image of the asylum committed to the curative regimen of moral therapy while catering to the tastes, proclivities and activities of private patients. This public image was propagated and promoted through photographs to the wider public. Accordingly, for Greenlees, photography performed a crucial role in constructing a restorative and recuperative image of the asylum that was to appeal to and persuade the public of the asylum’s suitability for taking care of private patients.
