Forgotten Cremains of Oregon's Mentally Ill

Oregon State Hospital. Think Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which was filmed there.

This photographer has put together a coffee-table book full of pictures of the urns of the dead, forgotten inmates of a psychiatric institution. Is there anything that consumerists won't exploit for profit? I don't understand. Is it because they've been forgotten that their dignity is unimportant? Or is it because they were insane?

If I had the tools, metalworking knowledge and the permission I'd open all those copper cans, place the ashes in a single container then use the copper to make bronze for a memorial statue. The ashes would be placed in a granite base with an inscription describing who these forgotten people once were. The statue made with copper from the urns would be a very detailed representation of a weary and downcast person sitting in a chair, shoulders sagging, like they were waiting to get out of the chair and walk away. I'd place it so the person was facing toward the way out of the hospital, looking out toward the road they'd take to go out into the world beyond.

Now you know I said it would be a very detailed statue of a person, right? I'd make it as realistic as possible, except for one detail...

The person would have no face.

I think it would be a fitting memorial for people who really ought to have one after all this time and it would be in keeping with what Grace Heckenberg said about all those unclaimed remains. I don't think they should be hidden away to stay eternally forgotten. A monument to acknowledge the shameful mishandling of so many deceased people (People, NOT just patients or cases or files or numbers!) who deserved the same respect and dignity as anyone else would serve as a stark reminder that something like this should never happen again.

I would make hot cocoa.

@Cais:

So you don't think it's possible the photographer felt the same way you and I do about this? There's no chance he could have found a creative way to make people see how the state brought about such a tragic mess with poor planning and carelessness? :-/

@Cais

So what would be the ideal things to do? Do nothing?

Doing nothing sounds like a good idea.
Actually, why not just get a can opener and rebury them somewhere in a mass grave? Make a little garden above, and have a memorial space. No need for faceless statues, just a plaque. Simple, refined.

I do feel the photographer felt deeply and the same as "dooflotchie" and Id love to see the State give permission to create a memorial for those lost souls. Being a care provider myself and someone who has known workers from Or.State Hospital, I know they'd feel the same. As much as I feel the cans, individually, are beautiful a memorial would be a reminder for all.