Beginning in 1985 the Manchester-based Documentary PhotographyArchive (DPA) commissioned photographers to record aspects ofBritish society in the north of England. Tom Wood's The DPA Workexplores the life and demise of two major institutions near Liverpool,Rainhill Psychiatric Hospital and Cammell Laird shipyard.Opened in 1851 as a lunatic asylum for long-term patients, by1936 Rainhill was the largest hospital complex in Europe. Wood beganphotographing there in the 1980s when UK government policy hadshifted from institutions towards Care in the Community. By thenRainhill had diminished in size and wards were often combined, mixinga range of patients. The DPA and the mental-health charity Mind,which described conditions at Rainhill as wholly unacceptable, asked Wood to record the hospital's closure and the movement of itspatients into the community.Cammell Laird shipyard's illustrious history dates back to the1820s, and includes the building of many famous warships and aircraftcarriers such as HMS Ark Royal. When Wood photographed the yard itwas facing closure, with a demoralized workforce fighting to save theirjobs while HMS Unicorn, the last Upholder-class submarine, was beingcompleted and launched.The two main volumes of The DPA Work include archive materialrelated to the history of Rainhill and Cammell Laird, while a third bookfeatures a series of late-nineteenth-century photographs of patientsat Rainhill. Together these volumes document a time of upheaval inLiverpool in the midst of industrial decline, the breakdown of communitiesand changes in healthcare whose consequences are still felttoday.Co-published with the University of Chester