Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.
Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.

Rainforest Escape

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D850
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
14mm · f/8.0 · 1/13 · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A window at Waterfall Sanatorium frames the dense rainforest beyond. Once a tuberculosis hospital, this decaying structure now offers a silent escape into nature, its purpose reclaimed by the encroaching jungle.

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
Size
Type
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.
See certificate sample →

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In situ

Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Rainforest Escape
Series
Waterfall Sanatorium
Catalogue
WSA-037
Process
Giclée
Captured
24 June 2018
Camera
NIKON D850
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/8.0
Shutter
1/13 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 window at Waterfall Sanatorium frames a view of dense bushland beyond the building. The window is timber-framed, the sashes weathered and the panes coated in dust. The view shows the established bush of the Royal National Park corridor surrounding the site, the canopy filling the upper part of the frame and the understory the lower.

Waterfall Sanatorium sits on bush land approximately 26 miles south of Sydney at around 1,000 feet elevation, near the southern edge of the Royal National Park corridor. The site was chosen because medical orthodoxy of the era held that tuberculosis required high, rarefied atmosphere. The sanatorium opened on 14 April 1909 and closed in 1958 when antibiotic therapy changed treatment.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building. The ceiling is painted pale green, its surface blistered and stained with damp. Timber-framed windows line the left wall, several panes missing, letting in thick subtropical air. Palm fronds press against the glass. Broken ceramic tiles, pink and blue, litter the concrete floor alongside shards of glass and grit. A half-height door in matching green stands ajar against the brickwork. Sunlight reaches the far end of the corridor but stops short.

Brett Patman

Waterfall Sanatorium

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
07 MORE FROM WATERFALL SANATORIUM

53 other prints in this series

All prints
Bathrooms at Waterfall Sanatorium, a brown vinyl armchair sits centre-frame on a floor thick with plaster dust and debris.
Bathrooms $100.00
Looking Out at Waterfall Sanatorium, broken windows viewing out towards the overgrown grounds of Waterfall Sanatorium.
Looking Out $100.00
Hanging Garden at Waterfall Sanatorium, a fern growing in brickwork between two bathroom doors.
Hanging Garden $100.00
Washroom at Waterfall Sanatorium, a narrow brick corridor opens toward a bank of timber-framed windows.
Washroom $100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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