Under the “worthwhile sources noted” banner, I would like to point out two books of documentary photography by native Tulsan and Stanford University undergraduate Alison Zarrow. With very different subjects, Ms. Zarrow’s two books each contribute to the appreciation of Oklahoma’s culture history in unique and valuable ways. Her first book is titled Abandoned Tulsa and was published by Furnace Press in 2006. (Find it on the Furnace Press site here.) The publisher’s website describes the book well:
[It] shows us her hometown from a unique perspective. Focusing solely on the abandoned and neglected, Zarrow brings Tulsa’s forgotten architecture back to life. Abandoned Tulsa takes the reader inside a variety of vacant structures: the birthplace of televangelism, a Camelot-themed hotel, a deserted bowling alley, and more. Part urban adventure, part historic record, Zarrow’s documentation spotlights the last human traces inside rapidly decaying buildings. Photos of fading signs and collapsed furniture provide a poignant narrative of inhabitations before and after the owners moved on. Zarrow’s personal observations of these visits are framed in a historic context, providing an illuminating view of Tulsa’s social and architectural development.
The book is filled with beautiful, haunting, surprising photographs. For those who know Tulsa, it is especially engaging.
Her more recent project is a book titled Wish You Were Here: Oklahoma’s All-Black Towns 100 Years after Statehood, which she published through Blub.com this year. (Find it here.) While sharing with her earlier book an interest in photographs of historic, sometimes neglected, structures and the built environment more broadly, Wish You Were Here also includes compelling, humane images of people and social life that testify to the continued vitality of important Oklahoma communities such as Boley, Taft, and Rentiesville. Oklahoma’s rich tradition of black rodeo is given special attention and is the subject of some of her most compelling photographs–several of which can be seen in her online portfolio, found here. The photography project that led to Wish You Were Here was supported by Stanford’s Hass Center for Public Service.
In support of her book projects, Ms. Zarrow also maintains, in addition to her portfolio, a weblog, which can be found here. It is to be hoped, that Ms. Zarrow will keep her camera lens trained on the richness of Oklahoma’s cultural heritage. She is to be commended for finding multiple ways of making her work accessible, including in open formats online.
