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.
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.
__________________ David Brown In Nomine Papierus, Filmio, et Spiritu Argentine, AMEN
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.
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
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:
“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!
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.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive" - Howard Thurman
Peter Feresten's life work 
Linear Mode
