At our annual celebration: Portraits of closed schools
by thenotebook on Jun 11 2013 Posted in Latest news
Photo: Katrina Ohstrom
The auditorium at Charles R. Drew Elementary, which closed last year.
Katrina Ohstrom's photos of closed school buildings can be at once dreamy and sobering. Her images of empty classrooms, quiet hallways, and vacant auditoriums once filled with the clamor of hundreds of students depict the stark reality of a District in upheaval while conjuring the cherished stories of the people who once attended the schools.
A selection of her photos, taken for a series on closing schools commissioned last year by Temple's Tyler School of Art, will be displayed at the Notebook's annual celebration tonight.
Ohstrom photographed three Philadelphia schools that closed last year, following the final day of classes but before the buildings' closing. The images show a matter-of-fact approach in documenting the final moments of a highly emotional event. A school's last days captured through an impartial eye.
Ohstrom said this was by design. She wanted to capture the spaces themselves without the presence of students, teachers, or staff.