The British photographer Mark Power (1959) worked in Peacehaven, a small town on the south coast of England. founded in 1916 as part of the British government’s ‘homes fit for heroes’ campaign, it was hoped that this seaside arcadia would become a place where traumatised war veterans could
build new lives. Following the Battle of the Somme that same year, 40% of casualties were considered shell-shocked, resulting in concern about an epidemic of psychiatric disorders.

Indeed, even ten years after the end of the war there were still 65,000 British veterans receiving treatment. ‘I tried to create...