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Featured Essays 

Syracuse 1981 

October 10, 2018 
by Bruce Gilden 
“Looking at this work 37 years later is a walk down memory lane. I went over my contact sheets more carefully and I discovered many photographs that I had never selected previously. I find some of them wonderful and I think that they all stand the test of time.”

Syracuse features Gilden’s work shot during a 1981 residency in the city of Syracuse, in Upstate New York. Gilden himself had forgotten the project, and many of the images from it, until happening upon the negatives in late summer, 2018. Gilden spent his time in Syracuse shooting at the sorts of mass gatherings he had been focusing on at the time–state fairs, fetes, parties–as well as working his way into the homes of the city’s blue-collar residents. He also photographed the local assisted living communities, impressed by the distinct attitudes toward them evident in the local population.

Super Labo, 2018.

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