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Ashley
Whillans

&

  

editor

icheal de Courcy creates
artwork, Mary Burns uses
words, Doug Smith composes

music, Heidi Currie makes movies and
Allan Lysell orchestrates actors.
Together this talented group
of educators and artists have come
together to create The Woodlands
Project: a One Month Journey into the
Institutional Experience which opens
on March 5" at the Amelia Douglas
Gallery and Laura C. Muir Performing
Arts Centre.
This exhibit about the Woodlands
Asylum took over three years to

arts & entertainment

  

 

“Dead and Buried: The Cemetery at
Woodlands.”

De Courcy had also become
interested in the Woodlands site in 2003
after the land was re-zoned and along
with Huburt and Burns, recognizes
the site as an important part of the
community that needs preservation.

“Throughout its history the
institution has seen a dramatic shift
in the way people with disabilities are
treated, housed, and taken care of, and
the land has been the subject of much
debate, particularly in the last decade,”
says de Courcy.

Through the exhibit, the people
who attend “Hopefully will know
everything they need to know
about the Woodlands site, and most
importantly recognize the people and
families behind the grave site (and the
Woodlands Institution),” he said

In addition to an art exhibit,

The Woodlands Project showcases a
documentary and theatre component.

“The project originally began while we were looking for a project that

reflected the history of New West”

develop and was put together by
Angela Huburt the Performing and
Creative Arts Events Liaison Officer
for the Faculty of Language, eae

and Performing Arts at Douglas
College. Using art, an original play,
documentaries as well as various

panel presentations, the event hopes to
reflect the history of New Westminster
as well as create dialogue about the
institutional environment, in particular
the Woodlands Institution and document
its historical significance within the
community.

The Woodlands Asylum began as
The Provincial Lunatic Asylum in 1878
and has been an integral part of New
Westminster’s history ever since. In the
1950s the asylum was remodelled and
renamed Woodlands School where it
became famous for incidents of mental,
physical and sexual abuse reported by
patients who were treated there.

When looking for a relevant
and historically significant project to
undertake, Huburt and Mary Burns,
former Douglas College Creative
Writing Chair, author, and playwright,
looked no further than the old site of
the Woodland’s Asylum, which had
been gaining media attention since
2003, when its land was re-zoned and
sold to Onni Management Services for
re-development as a non-institutional
residential community.

Huburt and Burns then contacted
Michael de Courcy, a Vancouver-based
interdisciplinary artist to produce the art
component for the Woodlands Project,

Douglas College Faculty Heidi Currie’s
film Asylum will explores the true
meaning of asylum-seeking within

an institutional environment, while
Burn’s play Imperfect will explore the
institutional experience. The festival
also includes a spotlight speaker series
with Woodlands survivors who will talk
openly with guests about their personal
experiences at the institution.

While there are over 3,000 patients
buried in the Woodland’s unmarked
gravesite, and an estimated 15,000
survivors of the Woodlands School are
still living today, de Courcy, Burns,
Currie and the other artists featured in
this month-long exhibit hope to focus
on the individual stories behind the
figures and to put a “human face, on
what otherwise might remain just a
database of names and numbers,” says
de Courcy.

Together these artists speak for
those who cannot speak for themselves,
and for those whose voices are often
ignored or rejected.

“We tend to reject the imperfect,”
echoes Burns. “What we really should
be working on is the way we deal with
people who need our help. My hope
is that many people see the [exhibit]
and come away wondering about
institutionalization as a care strategy.

I hope people think about personal
responsibility and about the importance
of respect in human relationships.”

The Woodlands Project: a One
Month Journey into the Institutional
Experience begins on March 5", with
an opening reception at the Amelia

Douglas Gallery from 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Admission is free.

For more information about the
exhibit call 604.527.5723 or visit www.

douglascollege.be.ca.