Hidden away out of sight in a forgotten storage closet deep within the bowels ofthe University of Texas State Mental Hospital languished a forgotten, but unique andexceptional, collection of 100 extremely rare, malformed, or damaged human brainspreserved in jars of formaldehyde.
Decades later, in 2011, photographer Adam Voorhes discovered the brains andbecame obsessed with documenting them in close-up, high-resolution, large formatphotographs, revealing their oddities, textures, and otherworldly essence. Voorhesdonned a respirator and chemical gloves, and began the painstaking process ofphotographing the collection. Desperate to know more about the provenance of thebrains, Voorhes, together with journalist Alex Hannaford, traveled down the rabbithole of the collection's history.
Sifting through a century's worth of university documents, the truth-seekersdiscovered that rival universities had bitterly fought over the collection. But afterwinning the "Battle for the Brains" (against Harvard University among others) theUniversity of Texas at Austin secured the collection. Now, however, the collection hasbeen reduced to half its original size and is in a state of neglect. Voorhes andHannaford's hunt for the medical records became a hunt for the missing brains, butwith no scientific or medical documents to pair with the body of photographs, Alexbegan following the trail to the researchers who had worked with them and thecaretakers in whose trust they were placed. The result of the duo's efforts has been arevived interest in the collection with various science journals publishing writings andresearch about the brains. And the university is now creating MRI scans of thespecimens and intends to showcase them at its new medical school. Alas, for now, the hunt for the missing brains seems to be far from over."
Decades later, in 2011, photographer Adam Voorhes discovered the brains andbecame obsessed with documenting them in close-up, high-resolution, large formatphotographs, revealing their oddities, textures, and otherworldly essence. Voorhesdonned a respirator and chemical gloves, and began the painstaking process ofphotographing the collection. Desperate to know more about the provenance of thebrains, Voorhes, together with journalist Alex Hannaford, traveled down the rabbithole of the collection's history.
Sifting through a century's worth of university documents, the truth-seekersdiscovered that rival universities had bitterly fought over the collection. But afterwinning the "Battle for the Brains" (against Harvard University among others) theUniversity of Texas at Austin secured the collection. Now, however, the collection hasbeen reduced to half its original size and is in a state of neglect. Voorhes andHannaford's hunt for the medical records became a hunt for the missing brains, butwith no scientific or medical documents to pair with the body of photographs, Alexbegan following the trail to the researchers who had worked with them and thecaretakers in whose trust they were placed. The result of the duo's efforts has been arevived interest in the collection with various science journals publishing writings andresearch about the brains. And the university is now creating MRI scans of thespecimens and intends to showcase them at its new medical school. Alas, for now, the hunt for the missing brains seems to be far from over."