GRIFFIN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
«These images represent a selection of my contributions to an ongoing collaborative project being conducted by undergraduate photography students at the University of Oklahoma. As a graduate student in the program, I have been working with Prof. Todd Stewart and his students for the past year to document both the past and present conditions of Griffin Memorial Hospital, a state psychiatric institution. Sometimes referred to as the “other campus” in town, Griffin Memorial exerted a historic and central influence on the creation, development, and maintenance of mental health programs in Oklahoma.
In addition to contemporary photography, the project as broadly envisioned collects archival documents, images and historic film footage, and conducts interviews with current administrators and past residents. Each student took on roles both particular and overlapping, all working with the belief that through our combined efforts the cultural history of an important state institution would emerge.
Lastly, and of particular interest to me at this stage in my career, is conceiving of the project as the orchestration of a complex of individuals, institutions, and intentions. Documenting Griffin Memorial Hospital represents the confluence of personal sensitivities to physical sites and larger cultural memories, the legitimate concerns of administrators who have granted access, and the didactic needs of simply trying to teach university students technical skills and documentary research practices. In this sense, I’m beginning to learn how contemporary documentary photography of historic sites at both the collaborative and instructional level demand a unique set of negotiations and considerations.»
© All copyright remains with photographer Sherwin R. Tibayan