The photographs in Prince Number 627 G 382 N were taken in four psychiatric hospitals in different parts of the world: Finland, Mozambique, Japan and Russia. I approached each of the four hospitals as an individual project. Rather than forcing them into the same visual form, I tried to find a style that reflected the atmosphere of each place.

A common theme throughout the photographs is simplicity and the direct presence of the person. When comparing my experiences of working in different hospitals, one of the most surprising things was that the patients in all four were equally open and easy to approach. Much greater differences could be found in the surrounding societies.

After working in both some of the richest and poorest countries in the world, I came to feel that the greatest problems were not caused by material conditions, but by ignorance, neglect, fear and shame.