Community brings silenced histories to light at Anderson Gallery

Once considered a taboo subject, the history of women institutionalized at the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane took center stage in November as community members gathered at UB’s Anderson Gallery to share deeply personal stories and cherished family artifacts.

The event, Buffalo Remembrance Project: Community Documentation Day, invited the public to bring items connected to women in their families who were confined at the Buffalo State Asylum between 1880 and 1974. Photographs, clothing, books, dolls, jewelry and other mementos and stories filled the gallery while surrounded by the ongoing exhibit, “Eighty-Six Reasons for Asylum Admission,” by Ohio-based artist Kimberly Chapman.

After a public call went out to the community, the Art Galleries quickly became a hub of activity. Residents arrived ready to speak openly about relatives whose lives had long been shrouded in silence. For one day, stories once whispered, or never spoken about at all, were shared freely.

Chapman said she was pleased and honored to see so many people attend the event and share their cherished items and stories.

“My work sheds light on dark topics. In the case of ‘Eighty-Six Reasons,’ I solely focused on what women experienced in mental asylums. The UB Anderson Gallery exhibition partially tells the story,” she said. “I was eager to hear directly from the families who had loved ones at the Buffalo State Asylum. Documentation Day was amazing — the interviews were deeply personal. Each participant was excited to talk openly about their loved one and eager to partake in this act of remembrance.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I’m so grateful to the Anderson Gallery for making this happen.”

Among the participants was Ann Marie Stuchell, who brought in a baby book kept by her mother, Elizabeth, while she was institutionalized.

“My mother always took pride that I was never taken away from her,” Stuchell said. “My dad and other family members maintained my care, but she had friends at the institution whose children were removed from them. That was a very strong source of pride for her.”

Stuchell said she held onto the book simply because it mattered so much to her mother, and she felt a responsibility to care for it and decide its future.

“I’m an only child, so I’ll probably burn it before I die,” she said candidly, underscoring the emotional weight such objects carry.

Paula M. Zeis also shared a family heirloom — a two-sided handmade rag doll sewn by her grandmother, Sophie Sasowski, during her time at the asylum. Zeis recalled being 5 years old when her grandmother was discharged and came to live with her family.

“She made me a rag doll and brought it with her,” Zeis said. “She was a seamstress, and I’m sure she did that work while she was in the asylum. They supposedly had arts and crafts for the patients. As we got older, we’d ask questions, but it really wasn’t a happy topic. My mom filled in some of the gaps before she passed, but it was hard for her because she missed her.”

Over a dozen families were represented at the daylong event, where UB photography majors documented each object and its story. Student Thomas Walsh described the experience as both meaningful and memorable.

“Each item has been great. Each story has been wonderful,” Walsh said. “One of the more memorable items was a doll. It was a two-faced doll — one side awake, one side sleepy. I just loved that doll.”

Walsh said the event gave participants a chance to speak openly about their families.

“It’s been a great opportunity to come out and talk about families and their history,” he said. “It’s been great to hear their stories and realize how much history each of these individuals have.”

Students used a range of photographic approaches — digital and 35mm film, black-and-white and color — to capture the artifacts. The resulting photographs will be displayed beginning Jan. 29 at the Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo’s Gallery, located on the ground floor of Richardson Olmsted Campus, the former site of the asylum itself.

“Kimberly Chapman’s work excavates the histories of women in asylums, and it’s an honor to help facilitate the telling of those stories in Buffalo,” said Anna Wager, curator of exhibitions at the UB Art Galleries. “In addition to the images of the objects brought in by family members, students also photographed the architecture at the Richardson, and these images will be in the exhibition as well. This project forms a powerful visual dialogue between personal memory and institutional history.”

The installation, which will run concurrently with Chapman’s exhibition in the UB Anderson Gallery, will open with a reception from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 29.

Student Sydney Jackson said the project aligned closely with her personal goals as an artist.

“Giving a voice to the people who didn’t have a voice — or weren’t listened to,” Jackson said of what was most important to her about this project. “Getting their names out there, because it shouldn’t be ignored just because they had a mental issue, if they even did have one.”

The collaboration is led by Wager, Chapman and Cassandra Cook, photo area instructional support technician in the Department of Art. Special thanks were also extended to Patrick Ryan, cultural curator of the Richardson Olmsted Campus, for providing access and tours of the facilities to students, as well as hosting the photo exhibition.