Michigan Theatre 3, Stan Douglas

Artwork Overview

Michigan Theatre 3, Stan Douglas
Michigan Theatre 3, Stan Douglas
Stan Douglas
Michigan Theatre 3
1998
Stan Douglas, artist
born 1960
Michigan Theatre 3, 1998
Portfolio/Series title: The Photography Portfolio
Where object was made: Detroit, Michigan, United States
Material/technique: laser print
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 56 x 45.7 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 22 1/16 x 18 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 61 x 50.7 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 24 x 19 15/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 27 7/8 x 23 3/8 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2019.0031.06
On display: Brosseau Learning Center
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Images

Label texts

Brosseau Center for Learning: In Conversation with the 2025–26 KU Common Book

We all come from somewhere. I come from Detroit. Just like my mother, who was born on Detroit’s West Side. My mother had a fierce loyalty to Detroit, a loyalty that did not seem out of the ordinary, because Detroiters believed Detroit was not an ordinary place.

Detroit was the heart of America’s automotive industry, a magnet that drew people from across the world. Detroit symbolized economic development and opportunity, and eventually disaster.

My mother told me she was determined that her children would all be born in Detroit, even after my family had moved thirty miles north of the city; this resulted in long drives to the hospital when my two younger siblings and I were born.

My birth year was followed by decades of change and upheaval, precipitously marked by the 1967 Detroit Riot; scars were left on the city that can still be seen. Ever since, Detroit has constantly been in a state of reimagining itself, being “reborn” and “dying” in front of our eyes. The Motor City became the Renaissance City and the Murder Capital.

This photograph documents Detroit as a ruin. Built in 1926, the Michigan Theater was an opulent structure that seated over 4,000 persons; by 1976, it was converted into a parking garage.

I left Detroit and came “here” in 1986. At that time, Detroit represented economic blight, crumbling infrastructure, and crime to the outside world; many Detroiters believed much of the negativity expressed about Detroit included implicitly racial and ethnic biases… I remember a social gathering shortly after arriving here. There was the usual small talk, the chitchat. But all I remember is the “question”.

Them: Where are you from?
Me: Detroit
Them: Oh, you must be really glad to be here.
Me: F**k you.
… and I walked away.

Luke Jordan gives place(s) of origin five stars and gives Detroit five stars.

Exhibitions

Brosseau Center for Learning: In Conversation with the 2025–26 KU Common Book
Scott Barber, curator
Wyatt Haywood, curator
Suzanne Huffman, curator
Ellen Joo, curator
Luke Jordan, curator
Arial Kim, curator
Doug Bergstrom, curator
Susan Earle, curator
Sofía Galarza Liu, curator
Kevin Liu, curator
Kate Meyer, curator
Cara Nordengren, curator
Hana Rose North, curator
Liz Pfeiffer, curator
Sydney Pursel, curator
Rachel Straughn-Navarro, curator
Eli Troen, curator
Maggie Vaughn, curator