Photographs and Stories from Oklahoma's Forgotten Places
Every building has a soul. Its soul is composed of the memories of those who lived their lives in relation to it, and thus breathed life into the very fabric of its structure. For every person, there is a place that has particular meaning to her, a place where some significant event unfolded and to which she continually returns, if only in quiet reveries. The buildings photographed here are such places—meaningless to most of us but sacred to a few, or perhaps only one.
When I began this project as a college student in the summer of 1990, I felt compelled to photograph the old, weathered buildings that dotted the landscape of my native Oklahoma. I often thought, If only these walls could speak! What stories they could tell! Well, in truth they can speak; they speak through the people who lived their lives in them and thus gave them meaning. Every person has a story to tell, and every building has stories secreted away in its history. It is only a matter of finding a person willing to tell their story about a particular place, and then taking the time to listen.
All of the buildings photographed here are old and weathered; they carry with them rich, beautiful, "unofficial histories" that give Oklahoma and America much of its color and texture. Their quiet whispers gently remind us from whence we came and speak the language of simplicity. They inspire nostalgia for a more innocent and slower-paced time that hasn’t been consumed by corporate culture or the acquisition of profit at any cost. Often, their subtle voices go unheard, drowned by the clamor of the exotic and the new. I hope these images and stories will remind us of the beauty of the old and the splendor of the norm.
On a personal level, I started this project as a way to reconnect with my roots—that of rural Oklahoma. By exploring the places that had personal importance to me, and listening to the stories people told me about their important places, I hoped to deepen my roots and strengthen my sense of connectedness to the land where I was raised. In doing so, I’ve gained a better understanding of where we've come from, who we are as a culture, and perhaps most importantly, where we're going as Americans. These stories contain the soul of America; by reminding people what America is truly about, they reveal to us the common thread that binds us together not only as Americans, but also as members of the greater human family.
The buildings photographed here reflect our collective cultural spirit. Look closely and listen... Can you hear their whispers? Can you see beyond the weathered surface to the soul inside? What you see are buildings that have stood witness not to grand waves of history, but to the quiet currents of humble lives.
Stevie Scheidemantel
March, 2010
Author’s note: The date on the titles refers to when the photograph was taken, not when the story was written. Often several years passed between making the photograph and conducting interviews for the story and writing it.
