Visiting JD Ryan’s five before chaos is always fun, especially to see how deftly he handles right wing trolls.  But JD is not just a keyboard commando; he has been involved with urban exploration for years now.  The photos he brings back from his field trips to abandoned buildings are quite haunting. In this interview, JD brings historical depth and humor to the work.

Initially, JD’s forays into urban exploration involved psychiatric hospitals. In 2010, he visited King’s Park Psychiatric Center, the Kirkbride, and the Cheney and Snow buildings at Hudson River State Hospital. These massive institutions represent an era when segregation of people with mental health trouble was the norm.

This spring JD travelled to the Catskills to visit the borcht belt, a series of resorts in New York. Though these buildings served a much cheerier purpose, JD’s photos capture the heaviness of times past.

So visit five before chaos for the politics, stay for the urban exploration, godlessness, and films of questionable quality. oh yeah, and the music. Here is a piece he wrote combined with asylum photos. The result is morosely beautiful.