Jill Freedman wrote, “I am a teller of long stories short, using photographs and words.” After seeing her Resurrection City exhibit displayed at the Steven Kasher Gallery this week I can confirm that she does use photographs to tell long complex stories. Something that I appreciated about her work was that although she told the story of the oppression and discrimination faced by African Americans, she also told their untold stories of love and happiness. Freedman offered a new perspective on a well known topic, and her use of visual images to capture it was incredibly moving.
“If you forget about things like traffic lights and dress shops and cops, Resurrection City was pretty much just another city. Crowded. Hungry. Dirty. Gossipy. Beautiful. It was the world, squeezed between flimsy snow fences and stinking humanity. There were people there who’d give you the shirt off their backs, and other who’d kill you for yours. And every type of in between. Just a city.”
This quote in particular resonated with me because people forget the beautiful parts of a place when only the ugly parts are focused on. She described Resurrection City as “beautiful.” Through her photography, it is evident that she really believed that. Although she documented the harrowing side of poverty and the congestion of living there, she took time to shine light on the beauty that emerged amidst the darkness. I found this photo depicting a man and women as if they were in the middle of a ball room dance to be breathtaking. I don’t know exactly what they were doing in this picture, but their faces look so happy, it looks like they were dancing. It stood out to me because these people weren’t just demonstrators and protestors, they were human beings too. They lived and laughed and loved in the same way that we do, and I thought this photo was poetic because it captured a raw and real moment that highlighted the humanity present, which sometimes gets lost when focusing on everything that is wrong.
Another photo in the gallery that did the same thing was one that showed a man playing on a makeshift drum while being embraced by his girlfriend or wife. I loved this photo and I found it to be so moving for the same reason that I liked the other one. This moment that Freedman captured was so raw yet intimate at the same time. 
This couple living in Resurrection City certainly was dealing with major issues regarding poverty and discrimination, yet they continued living passionately and they embraced music and love as ways to get through the dark times. I think that if we all just stop and remember what it means to be human, then the world would be a much better place. Instead of focusing on the things that divide us, whether it be nationality or social class, we should focus on things that unify us and transcend over racial barriers like music and dance.
Jill Freedman’s work is important not only because it shows the painful reality of poverty and discrimination, but also because it reminds us of the common and universal human experience.
