November 7, 2001
'Angels in the Architecture' spiritual journey for author
Heidi Johnson holds signing for book on State Hospital
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Heidi Johnson's just-released book, "Angels in the Architecture," tells the stories of the Traverse City State Hospital in pictures and words. Subtitled "A Photographic Elegy to an American Asylum," she documents a slice of history that continues to shape a community.
A renowned photographer whose Angels in the Architecture photograph series already created a stir, Johnson spent the last three years compiling stories about the hospital from documents, former patients and employees. Besides her own sometimes ethereal, sometimes stark photos of the grounds and buildings, she includes numerous historic photos culled from state archives and private collections.
With the ink barely dry on the first run of her book, specially driven by the bindery to Traverse City last week just for the signing, Johnson sat at the author's table at Borders Bookstore Saturday afternoon signing copies and still not quite believing it all.
"I was really inspired by the grounds, I would go there and soul search," Johnson recalled. "I started taking pictures there in 1997 and the book took about three years to pull together from there."
Like many who grew up around Traverse City, Johnson has a personal touchstone at the state hospital: an aunt who was a patient there during an era when mental illness was a dark, unspoken family secret.
"I never met her but it was a scary thing, never talked about," said Johnson. "I drove by there all the time as a kid and I would shrink down in the seat, afraid she would see me."
"When I got older, I wanted to research and find out what the truth was."
After her photographs revealed the profound beauty of the grounds, she began research into the history, life and theories driving mental health treatment. Writing 3,000 words herself, Johnson also drew from many historical documents in Lansing archives and first-person accounts. She received special permission from the state to conduct her research.
She found records of patients and employees that were sketchy at best. But she persevered over three years to pull together material that ranges from nurses training protocols to a variety of inmate statistics, including reasons for commitment, ethnicity and income.
At first she found former patients, employees and long-time Traverse City residents leery of talking with her. They thought she wanted only the gory stories, the sensational angles.
"A lot of old timers were reluctant to talk to me until they realized my interest," said Johnson, who is an Artist in Residence at Interlochen Arts Academy and a freelance photographer. "I wanted to get into the emotional heart of it."
Wayne State University Press is publishing "Angels in the Architecture," a relationship that spawned one evening at the Manitou Restaurant in Benzie County. In May of 1999, Jane Hoehner, a newly-hired acquisitions editor at the Press, was up in the region for a brief vacation. She recalled that her husband overheard Johnson talking about her photographs and research with friends over dinner.
"He kicked me under the table and said, 'You have to listen to this,'" Hoehner said. "Later I went over and apologized for interrupting, but said I thought she had a great idea and gave her my card."
Regardless of the circuitous route it took getting published, the release of "Angels in the Architecture" fulfills a need in the community.
"I can't tell you how many times people asked me if there was a book on the State Hospital," said Kim Ross, manager of Borders Bookstore and a friend of Johnson. "There was a need out there and there was nothing."