Peter Feresten's life work

lee · Oct 29, 2007

About a month ago the photography world lost an important artist to lung cancer. Peter Feresten was his name. He did monumental work for many years on the south side of Fort Worth recording the Black churches and the black community in general. He never was interested in showing or selling his work and in fact most of times his work was displayed he had to be talked into it. Now it looks like some if not all of his archive may soon reside in the Library of Congress. Part of the work will go to the Fort Worth Library. Here is a link to the article I just read in an alternative news paper called the Fort Worth Weekly.

http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=6394

lee\c

David Brown · Oct 29, 2007

Thanks for posting that, Lee. In the last year or so, I saw an exhibition of his work at AfterImage Gallery in Dallas, and attended a lecture Feresten gave at the Amon Carter Museum. While this type of PJ stuff is not my "cup of tea" as it were, I still recognized and appreciated the quality. I hope his inventory does end up in the right places and his widow gets the help with this that she will need.

photomc · Oct 29, 2007

This is good news Lee, and Thanks for posting. Peter and I arrived at the college the same year...was never lucky enough to take a class from him, his influence covered the program there immediately. Peter would not take well to all of the attention his work is getting now - that was just Peter, I somehow feel that he is happy knowing that it will go on as a record of Ft. Worth and the culture he found so interesting.

Ray Heath · Oct 29, 2007

thanx for the link Lee, a great story

i found this page by googling Peter's name, it has many examples of his work

they are great images, true to life, excellent documentary photographs
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/feresten.htm

Lee, your intro makes me consider my own practice, i also take many photographs but rarely show them, i have recently questioned why i produce so much that will never be seen by others, but i can't not do it, maybe there is a faint hope that later my images will be of some value to someone

Ray

Ray Heath · Oct 29, 2007

Lee, i just revisited the page i linked to above, these are really excellent images

from Peter's titles can you explain, what are "Lumpers", and what is meant by "Juneteenth"?

Ray

lee · Oct 29, 2007

don't know about Lumpers but Juneteenth is a black celebration when the word that Lincoln freed the slaves reached the shores of Texas. It took about a year for the word to reach Texas back then. It is said to be June 19. You can read more about Juneteenth here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

lee\c

copake_ham · Oct 29, 2007

“He told me, ‘I’m ready to go. I’ve had a good life, a very interesting life. I don’t have any regrets. I don’t owe anyone anything, not even an apology. I thought I’d be afraid, but I’m not. ... I’m actually interested in seeing what’s next.’”

This is a very powerful way of leaving. My wife's mother just very recently died - and she was this kind of strong.

I'm not a believer in "what's next" but I hope I can go with the same strength!

Lee, thanks for posting this.

lee · Oct 29, 2007

looks like Lumpers are men who load and unload trucks. Makes sense as this photo was made over on NE28th St and it is full of truck stops and places where these fellows could make money.

lee\c

noblebeast · Oct 29, 2007

Lumpers

Ray Heath said:
Lee, i just revisited the page i linked to above, these are really excellent images

from Peter's titles can you explain, what are "Lumpers", and what is meant by "Juneteenth"?

Ray

Lee got to Juneteenth before I could, but there is another link if you want it.

Lumpers are folks that unload trucks - mainly food and produce - for cash under the table. From what I understand they are illegal hires.

Joe

Alex Hawley · Oct 29, 2007

Very interesting work. I had not heard of Peter Feresten before. Thanks for posting this Lee.

Ray Heath · Oct 29, 2007

thnx for the info Lee,

i read the Wiki page, i love the idea that the celebrations (it seems to me) on Juneteenth are based on working people's culture, simple food, gatherings in the local park, spending time with peers and the community, makes me wonder why in our modern world we have forgotten these simple pleasures

Ray

Peter Feresten's life work

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