Empty Arches

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/8.0 · 1/4 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Within Waterfall Sanatorium, a series of empty arches frames the decaying interior. Sunlight cuts through the dust-filled air, illuminating the silent, forgotten corridors of this former hospital.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Empty Arches
Series: Waterfall Sanatorium
Catalogue: WSA-015
Process: Giclée
Captured: 24 June 2018
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/4 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

03 THE STORY

About this print

A series of empty arches frame the interior of one of the buildings at Waterfall Sanatorium. The arches are brick, plastered over and painted, the paint worked back to bare plaster across patches. Sunlight enters from windows beyond the archway run and falls across the floor between the columns. The corridor under the arches is dust-covered.

Waterfall opened on 14 April 1909 as the Hospital for Consumptives, NSW. The site sits on the bush land approximately 26 miles south of Sydney at around 1,000 feet elevation, chosen for its atmosphere under the medical thinking of the era. The sanatorium was the largest TB facility in NSW by 1919, holding 788 patients. It closed in 1958 when antibiotic therapy made the isolation model unnecessary.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Steel trusses span the pitched ceiling of a long rectangular hall. White-painted brick walls rise on both sides, covered in layers of graffiti. Buff-coloured patches mark where someone attempted to paint over older tags. Large windows on each side let in flat, grey light. The concrete floor is bare and gritty with dust and debris. A few drums and discarded objects sit against the far wall. The space is completely empty.

Brett Patman

The series

Waterfall Sanatorium

2016–2018 · 54 photographs

The first patients arrived at the Hospital for Consumptives, Waterfall on 14 April 1909, with initial provision for 180 men. A women's wing opened in May 1912 for 120; by 1919 it had become the largest sanatorium in New South Wales, holding 788 patients. The site sat at about 1,000 feet (305 m), 26 miles (42 km) south of Sydney, on the medical theory that tuberculosis needed 'high and rarefied atmosphere in the country away from the grime and pollution of cities'.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.

Anatomy · true ratio