Candler Hospital
Legend has it that during the yellow fever epidemic of 1876, so many people were dying at Candler Hospital (now Ruskin Hall) that tunnels were built to hide the bodies and avoid mass hysteria.
“Speak No Ill Of The Dead”
To support the poster and provide context, a motion media piece was made to capture the eerie atmosphere surrounding the epidemic by retelling the myth of Candler Hospital, where the deceased were buried in a tunnel below.
An inscription found during the discovery of the bodies reads: "De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum," translating to "Speak no ill of the dead."
Playing on the words, the poster conceptualised the common liberation from the yellow fever, death. The following images were taken in front of the tunnel of Ruskin Hall on an unidentified individual.
Dérive
Type: Poster Design, Historical Contextualisation, Photography
Mentor: Micheal Mikulec
Integrating design media to tell a compelling story that encapsulated delving into the hidden past of Savannah’s famous Ruskin Hall. The aim of this project was to document the historical narrative through experimental typography and photography.
Ruskin Hall, previously known as Candler Hospital, saw numerous deaths during the yellow fever outbreak, some of which were hidden from the public. Victims were secretly buried in a now-barred tunnel below the hospital. The poster aims to capture the above story of unnamed individuals. The image to create the poster was photographed at the entrance of the tunnel.