The New York City Farm Colony was established on Staten Island in 1829 to house and care for poor and elderly residents. Able-bodied residents initially worked on the farm, whose crops helped support the institution. Its population declined as programs such as Social Security provided alternatives to institutional care. The Farm Colony closed in 1975, and its dormitories, hospital buildings and other structures were left abandoned and slowly reclaimed by the surrounding woods.

I photographed the abandoned Farm Colony in 2023 as part of my continuing work on Staten Island’s hidden institutional landscapes. Its history became especially interesting to me through photographer Alice Austen, who ended up there after losing her money and home. A place created for people the city could not otherwise support had, for a time, housed an artist whose work was nearly forgotten.