A patient plays with a soap bubble inside a mental hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Photographer Aun Raza documented the lives of patients there from 2011 to 2014.
Aun Raza
Men sit in a dining area at the hospital. After about 70 visits, Raza said he found something surprising: Some patients, he thought, were saner than many people he encountered in his daily life outside the hospital.
Aun Raza
"There is a desire in them to be seen, to be given attention -- and above all -- to be loved," said Raza, who is from Lahore.
Aun Raza
Many patients end up spending most of their lives shut away from society, Raza said: "A few of them die natural deaths there. Some of them at times commit suicide."
Aun Raza
A man lies on a mattress in the hospital's chronic patients ward.
Aun Raza
Raza said Abdul Shakoor has been at the hospital for 45 years. "He speaks very little," Raza said. "He's an immensely lovely person, a very tender person. But he doesn't remember anything. All he remembers is his name. That's it."
Aun Raza
A new patient is hugged by his father. "I embraced both of them, too," Raza said. "It was a very powerful moment. I had tears in my eyes."
Aun Raza
Patients play with balloons in the dining area.
Aun Raza
The whole experience prompted Raza to question society's perspective on the mentally ill and disabled.
Aun Raza
Patients wait for medicine.
Aun Raza
A man sits in the hospital's rehabilitation center.
