TOBIAS FRERE-JONES

The experience of a city is diffuse, built more of
passing details than of postcard views. Both as
cultural indicators and as pervasive features of the environment, letterforms impart a sense of place and identity, like an accent in speech.

Beginning in 2002, I have been documenting the
lettering of New York City. Originally a tangent from the research for the Gotham typeface, this ongoing project records the painted, gilded, carved and cast lettering of the city’s public spaces.

Few if any of the artisans behind this lettering
have ever been recognized or honored, and many examples of their craft are falling to New York’s relentless cycle of demolition and construction. Some pieces of lettering have already been lost since these photographs were taken.

I inspected every block of Manhattan, often returning at different times of day (and even different seasons) for the clearest record of each subject.

I drew my own map of Manhattan, to plan each day’s excursion and track the gradual coverage of the island. To date, I have photographed lettering in the 844 blocks from Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan, north to 14th Street.

Tobias Frere-Jones, 2009