When Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper in Sesame Street, died of heart attack in 1982, he had already shot several episodes set to air the next year so his absence did not have to be immediately explained. One year after, the producers decided that no one would replace him and that it was time young viewers learned one of the saddest facts of life: Death. Farewell, Mr. Hooper aired on November 24, 1983, Thanksgiving Day. Thirty-two years later this episode still makes me weep.
Most documentary projects about mental illness reveal someone else's behavior, but Laura Hospes took a very different approach. The Dutch photographer documented her stay at a psychiatric ward, and her raw, striking and sometimes unbearable black and white self-portraits reveal the reality of what it's like to recover from anxiety, depression and eating disorder following a suicide attempt. The project, which Laura called UCP-UMCG, (named after the hospital in which she stayed) earned her a spot on LensCulture's list of 50 best emerging photographers for 2015 in the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards. One picture shows her staring blankly ahead while clad in a sleeveless shirt. In another, she is depicted lying on a bed, half naked. "At first, I made this complete series for myself, to deal with the difficulties and express my feelings,” she told The Mighty . "After that, I want to inspire people who are or have been in a psychiatric hospital. I want them to s...
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