A former leprosarium with a traumatic past makes a haunting backdrop for Jaime Welsh's photographs

In 1903, the architect Adolf Loos was tasked with reworking a country house on the shores of Lake Geneva. Formerly a leprosarium, the residence was later the site of a controversy when the owner, physiology professor Théodore Beer, was accused of immoral conduct and left, in disgrace, for America. Now a private residence, the home’s rich history of unresolved tension and psychological trauma makes it an arresting example of twentieth-century architecture. For Portuguese photographer Jaime Welsh, it proved irresistible.

Welsh’s previous work has considered the role that ideological systems and political structures play in shaping us, in poignant images which emphasise the innocence and isolation of the individual. When he came across Villa Karma, its dual role as sanctuary and site of trauma felt like a natural jumping-off point from which to explore themes of perception, surveillance and identity.

‘I was drawn to Villa Karma for its secrecy,’ Welsh says. ‘The building is like a fortress, with rooms nested within rooms, doorways and vantage points built for observation. It feels ceremonial in its order and deeply oppressive, yet somehow oneiric. The history of the place also drew me in. It was shaped by illness, first a leprosarium and later the residence of a troubled neurologist.’

In Welsh’s photographs, Villa Karma becomes a living thing, its structure not only sheltering its inhabitants but also shaping them. ‘I was drawn to the passageways, whose lines of sight were designed for surveillance,’ he adds. ‘In the end, the camera assumes that role, replacing the architecture as the ultimate instrument of control.’

It is unclear, in the works, if the villa is healing or harming its inhabitants; to find out would be beside the point. ‘Safety and trauma often exist within the same space. What protects can also wound. Architecture absorbs contradiction, shaping anxiety and fear into form. I wanted that ambiguity to surface, where control and vulnerability coexist in the same frame.’

Jaime Welsh 'Convalescent' is at Ginny on Frederick, London, from 8 Nov – 17 Dec 2025