‘Street Cops’ @ Daniel Cooney
Street Cops presents Jill Freedman’s (1939-2019) visceral photographs documenting a city on both sides of the law. Eventually published in a book, this series of photographs resulted from following the NYPD as they patrolled Manhattan’s Ninth and Midtown South precincts over the duration of two years. Freedman’s work frequently focuses on concepts of brotherhood and explores the bonds between groups and factions, such as firefighters, police officers and a group of Martin Luther King’s followers after his assassination. In the printed edition of Street Cops, the material of which constitutes this exhibition, Freedman photographed officers in precarious situations: making an arrest, beating up a suspect, or attending a co-worker’s funeral. Alongside each photograph, Freedman inserted a brief text illuminating the situation. The book begins with the Alfred Hitchcock quote: “Let’s not go too deeply into these things. It’s only a movie”.
Jill Freedman, Eighth Avenue and Forty-Second Street, Late 1970s. Source: Daniel Cooney.
The photographs, taken between 1978 and 1981, capture a New York one would not encounter today. In the late 1980s Times Square and Alphabet City, two areas Freedman frequently poked her camera nosily in to, were not the glitzy, billboard filled tourist attractions they are today. Home to sex shops and drug dealers, Times Square had a steadfast reputation as one of the sketchiest parts of the city and stood as a symbol of the city’s decay. Whilst spending time there a police siren, Freedman said, meant someone was playing her song, yet the action came with the territory. Following her death in 2019, The New York Times stated Freedman presented her subjects as “noble but not necessarily heroic.”[1] In other words, Freedman was focused on telling the story and telling it right, unconcerned about portraying her subjects as valiant.
Jill Freedman, A Man Went Crazy on Second Avenue, Late 1970s. Source: Daniel Cooney.
Freedman captured outcasts amidst the ache and solitude of life in a big city. Unglamorizing violence, these photographs reveal the reality of New York’s streets, stripped of the glitz they were cloaked in, in movies and on TV. This is reflected in the titles Freedman gave her work: unembellished and to the point.
Jill Freedman, Stabbed in the Guts, Late 1970s. Source: Daniel Cooney.
Although Freedman was present to capture these fleeting moments on New York’s streets, she endeavored to disappear into the background and be invisible. Freedman once stated: “I am a camera”, encapsulating her method of working. Ultimately, this immersive look into Freedman’s work, offered by Daniel Cooney, transports the viewer back in time and the photos stick jaggedly in your memory.
Jill Freedman, Arrest, Late 1970s. Source: Daniel Cooney.
Jill Freedman, It’s the Boys Club, Late 1970s. Source: Daniel Cooney.
Street Cops is on show in Daniel Cooney’s New York gallery until October 30th 2021 and is available to view online via their website.
About Daniel Cooney
Daniel Cooney is a contemporary art gallery located in Chelsea, New York, specialising in photography and illustration. Daniel Cooney, the eponymous gallery founder, began his gallery career at the James Danziger Gallery and continued as Associate Director of the Julie Saul Gallery. Before opening Daniel Cooney Fine Art he was the Director of Online Photographs at Sotheby’s.
About Jill Freedman
Jill Freedman (1939-2019) was a documentary and street photographer. Freedman’s award-winning work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the International Centre of Photography. Recalling the work of Dorothea Lange and Cartier-Bresson, Freedman is a master of candid photography.
MADE IN BED
All images courtesy of Daniel Cooney.