Memories and Morals
By Lori Pappajohn
The Record
Saturday, October 25, 2003

There might not be another place in New Westminster with so many memories, so many controversies, so many heartaches. Most of us knew little about the place, as it was hidden for decades behind a tall cedar hedge - a hedge that was a divider, physically and emotionally, between our world and that world.

But local artist and photographer Michael de Courcy ventured beyond the hedge and has documented the emotional and historic transition of the Woodlands school property.

Several years ago, when the provincial government announced it was closing Woodlands school and moving its residents, the mentally challenged, into community homes, de Courcy's interest was piqued.

He'd lived in New Westminster 14 years, yet he'd never gone beyond the hedge that obscures the grounds from McBride Boulevard. He knew little of the school that functioned as a small village in a world of its on. Behind the hedge was a community of brick buildings with barred windows set on expansive lawns with beautiful spreading trees and breathtaking views of the Fraser River.

Founded in 1878, at its height, in the 1970s, Woodlands was home to 1,700 residents looked after by 1,200 staff. Woodlands was founded at a time when it was believed the "mentally ill" should be institutionalized. Today, institutions are being phased out across North America.

With the Woodlands residents being moved to group homes in traditional neighbourhoods, the historic 64 acres of prime real estate was rezoned and sold to a developer.

And so de Courcy began his journey - photographing the beautiful and tranquil grounds and the vacant and silent buildings. As he walked through the empty halls, he couldn't help but wonder about the people who lived there and what had happened to them. One phone call led to another and, before he knew it, de Courcy found himself immersed in a story about his community - a story he felt needed to be told.

De Courcy tracked down numerous residents. He found those who were glad to be out of Woodlands and were happy living in group homes. And he found those who weren't so lucky - those who fell through the cracks and landed on the streets, homeless in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

He photographed them as they were - on the street, in their homes.

He talked to residents' families, advocacy groups and former nurses. And he attended and photographed the seven development information meetings and the rezoning of the property for a residential community.

A father of seven, the Queen's Park resident has always felt that an artist should be involved in the community.

"I treat the community like an extended family. I'm not a civic activist but, as an artist, I'm looking for meaning. Woodlands is a mental health issue. People don't want to deal with mental health. You have it in your community because you have to. I was looking for a nice way to tell this story. But it's not a very pretty story."

De Courcy's project became more of a morality tale - a story of the institutionalized and the story of developers lining up for the prime property.

Not only did de Courcy record the development information meetings, he listened to the recordings numerous times and transcribed 100 pages of notes.

"When you really listen to those tapes, when you listen a second time, it becomes clearer what is going on. The more I listened to the tapes, the more skeptical I became. As an individual, I felt completely helpless. Those putting the meetings on were pros. The outspoken people in the audience would be put in their place in a very smooth way. Lip service would be paid to non-market housing issues. As I listened, I realized there was something going on that I didn't like."

And so de Courcy found himself acting as the eyes and ears of the community - listening, documenting and, in the end, putting together a comprehensive and poignant exhibit, which opens this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at New Westminster Public Library. The public is invited to the opening.

De Courcy, whose works have been collected by the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Vancouver Art Gallery, has named his exhibit 'Asylum: A Long, Last Look at Woodlands 1878-2003.'

Seventeen large-scale photographs depict the oldest Woodlands building - the empty rooms with paint and wallpaper peeling. The photos expertly capture the rigidity of the structures and their decay. As powerful as these photographs are, they are matched in poignancy by 12 sensitively-taken portraits of former Woodlands residents.

The exhibit, which took two years to complete, includes five large screen prints of newspaper clippings about Woodlands, as well as an interactive display. De Courcy created a replica of the city hall podium used by residents to address city council.

On the podium rests the impassioned speech of former Woodlands resident Bob Smith asking the city to consider market housing for the physically challenged on the redeveloped site.

"My goal was to put a human face on this mystery that was so hidden behind the hedge," said de Courcy. "A marginalized group of people with no power are sitting ducks. They become dehumanized. They were fed supper early so staff could go home to feed their families. The decisions were made for the staff, not the residents. A lot of mistakes were made, but there were many well-meaning people working there."

When Queens Park Hospital was built next door, it overlooked the cemetery where hundreds of Woodlands residents had been buried over the years. The cemetery stones were removed "as it was a disquieting view for the frail and elderly residents of the hospital," said de Courcy. All that remains is an empty field.

"My exhibit is like a library - a whole lot of reference material for you to draw your own conclusions. And it's about closure."

Andrea Kunard, assistant Curator with the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography describes de Courcy's exhibit as a mosaic of stories. She writes: "In a general sense, the situation of the Woodlands residents underscores how tenuous anyone's position is in society and how we are all part of and shaped by greater circumstances. Through de Courcy's exhibition we can recognize and bear witness to these human concerns, even long after the buildings have been demolished and the area transformed. "