Friedlander’s collection ‘Letters from People’ is a series of images that cover letters, numbers, words and sometimes whole sentences (Lee Friedlander: Letters from the People | MoMA, 1994).  Fig X below shows an installation image of his work as it was displayed in MoMA in 1994.

Fig. X is an installation image from MOMA and shows a part of the series focussed on whole words.  According to the curator, Peter Galassi, bringing the images together means that ““the whole is not only greater, but exponentially greater, than the sum of its parts.”.  I agree, I think that the collection brought together adds interest as I find myself wondering what made Friedlander choose each specific image and I find myself comparing each image for its contents, and the way in which it was shot.  

I feel that this interest is accentuated further when looking at images taken from his book of the same title (Friedlander, 1993).  Fig 2 below shows an example and one can see that he has chosen to place images that include the words “God’s” and “Sin” on the same page.

The interesting point for me about this page is the juxtaposition of the images with each other.  Separately they have some interest but, it is by bringing them together that a greater interest is achieved.  In the case of Fig. 2, there is also a sense of satire by bringing those two words together. 

In Fig. 3 below one can see a different approach to bringing the images together.  The curator of CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture) has chosen to create a series using the number based images and arranging them in numerical order.  I found it interesting that the CCA was holding this exhibition but one can see that the number images are all of numbers of buildings.  Do the images somehow show something about architecture?  Possibly is my conclusion because some of the images are framed with a wider view than just the number, we can see the number and the building that it is affixed to, or drawn on.  This creates an interesting comparison or juxtaposition again. For example, the Number 6 which has an arrow pointing around the corner, why was the number not just drawn on the other side of the wall? 

Figure 4 is an example where we can see the letter, z in this case, but a wide expanse of surroundings.  Clearly the image is showing us the z, but are we meant to look and think about the background?  The framing of the image is such that we cannot see much of the building it is fixed to, and there is a hint that there is more to the sign out of shot above the z.  Why is this not shown?  These questions serve to capture interest and leave the viewer to fill in the blanks with their own story.

Figure 5 is very different. Here we can see graffiti on the right hand side of the image, this is the ‘letters’ part, but then on the left we see crowds, and in particular children surrounded by police barricades.  We are not sure why the barricades are there, is this is protest perhaps, and we are also not sure if the graffiti comes from the children.  Certainly the graffiti is simple and childish so perhaps it does come from them but we cannot be sure.  We can see from the barricades that they image is taken New Orleans and from the dress and style I would guess around the 1970s or 80s.  I find it interesting that there appears to be both black and white people protesting, but not at each other.  We do not know what they are there for.   The interesting thing for me is that there is so much story, so much to make up inside this image but that it is then just grouped into a collection of other images that show graffiti.  

Learning Points 

Grouping images along a theme can add interest to each image but also create a collection where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  I had already learnt this from studying typography but it was interesting to see this when the ‘type’ is nothing more complicated than the notion of a letter.

Different perspectives can be used to capture the same thing.  Images of a single letter in this collection range from close up images of the letter, to quite wide shots showing quite a lot of the location – and then deliberately not showing other parts. 

Side stories to the main typography can add to the type itself.  Figure 5 is a good example in which Friedlander could have just captured the graffiti but by making the second half of the image show other things, I was left making up lots of the story myself, which then added more interest to the graffiti.  

Bibliography

The Museum of Modern Art. 1994. Lee Friedlander: Letters From The People | Moma. [online] Available at: <https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/428?> [Accessed 25 August 2020].

Friedlander, L., 1993. Letters From The People. New York: D.A.P.

Figures

Figure 1. MoMa, 1994. Installation Image. [image] Available at: <https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/428?> [Accessed 02 August 2020].

Figure 2. Friedlander, L., 1993. Image From The Book “Letters From The People”. [image] Available at: <https://maraid.co.uk/blog/2012/06/lee-friedlanders-letters-from-the-people/> [Accessed 02 August 2020].

Figure 3. Canadian Centre for Architecture, 1993. Letters From The People”: Photographs By Lee Friedlander. Installation View, 1993. [image] Available at: <https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/events/2776/letters-from-the-people-photographs-by-lee-friedlander?lb_url=%2Fen%2Flightbox%2Fmediacopy%2Fsummary%3Fmediacopy_url%3D%252Fapi%252Fmediacopy%252F7089> [Accessed 02 August 2020].

Figure 4. Friedlander, L., 2020. Z – Lee Friedlander: Letters From The People [SIGNED ASSOCIATION COPY]. [image] Available at: <https://www.vincentborrelli.com/pages/books/113641/lee-friedlander/lee-friedlander-letters-from-the-people-signed-association-copy> [Accessed 02 August 2020].

Figure 5. Friedlander, L., 2020. Children Playing – Lee Friedlander: Letters From The People [SIGNED ASSOCIATION COPY]. [image] Available at: <https://www.vincentborrelli.com/pages/books/113641/lee-friedlander/lee-friedlander-letters-from-the-people-signed-association-copy> [Accessed 02 August 2020].