De vijftig staten van Amerika in Lego

Lego alleen voor kinderen? Welnee! Zelf zijn we een groot fan, maar ook de Canadese fotograaf Jeff Friesen kan de gekleurde blokjes niet laten liggen. Hij gebruikt Lego om stereotypen uit de vijftig staten te laten zien. Sommige zijn duidelijk: aliens in New Mexico en hippies in Californië. Anderen zijn een beetje subtieler. Ze gaan in ieder geval allemaal in op de diverse culturen, geschiedenis, tradities en de politiek van elke staat. Zo laat Friesen op zijn manier zien hoe onderscheidend de staten zijn: geen enkele stukje Amerika is hetzelfde. Welke vind jij de leukste?

De vijftig staten van Amerika in Lego

Wat je naast de Lego-elementen ziet op de vijftig foto’s hieronder, is voornamelijk papier – Friesen maakte nauwelijks gebruik van Photoshop. Het project was voor hem vooral bedoeld als een leuk tijdverdrijf naast zijn drukke baan als professioneel fotograaf. “Het begon als grapje met mijn 7-jarige dochter. We hebben er uiteindelijk een hele zomer over gedaan: in de middag bouwden we de setting, ’s avonds fotografeerde ik het in mijn eigen studio. Ik ben altijd erg serieus met mijn werk bezig: dit was voor mij echt een verademing.”

Zowel de beelden als de onderschriften zijn eigendom van de schepper, Jeff Friesen. Er zijn overigens later wat varianten gemaakt door dezelfde kunstenaar; bekijk ze op deze pagina. Je zou vanuit daar eventueel ook het bijbehorende boek kunnen bestellen.

Alabama

Alabama. Roll Tide! Just restrain yourself from rolling your tailgate party onto the playing field.

Alaska

Alaska. Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Fish for a man and he’s food for a week

Arizona

Arizona. Good fences make good neighbors?

Arkansas

Arkansas. Promenade across the floor/ Shimmy right on out the door/Stuff a weasel, dress your cat/ These DJ beats are really fat.

Californië

California. Moonbeams’ mellow is never harshed by her compost-powered Fruitfly brand tri-scooter.

Colorado

Colorado. Head ‘em up, move ‘em out, send ‘em down…the famous snowboard wranglers of Aspen.

Connecticut

Connecticut. Nothing’s finer than a moonlit cruise on I-95.

Delaware

Delaware. Inspired by the title of Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting, Washington Crosses ‘The Delaware.’

Florida

Florida. Reptilian life-forms rule the beaches of Florida. Luckily, most are slow moving.

Georgia

Georgia. As it turns out Rhett Butler and Scarlet O’Hara’s passion for one another was easily doused by local firefighters.

Hawaii

Hawaii. Sometimes extreme surfing is more about the board than the wave.

Idaho

Idaho. Farmer Abe feels blessed to have a customer whose appetite for spuds is boundless… and the little fellow pays in solid gold.

Illinois

Illinois. Bugsy’s mom thinks it’s great that he’s running a strictly legitimate lemonade stand this summer. That will keep him out of trouble.

Indiana

Indiana. After bouncing back from crash after crash all season the mysterious racer won the 500 by driving like he had nothing to lose.

Iowa

Iowa. Every summer you seen them emerging bright yellow from their green jackets: the children of the corn.

Kansas

Kansas. There’s no place like home, but if your home is frequently aloft please consider wearing a parachute indoors.

Kentucky

Kentucky. Brave adventurers explore the outer reaches of the Kentucky Derby hat.

Louisiana

Louisiana. A Mardi Gras float is only as good as its clean-up crew.

Maine

Maine. If you find yourself in a pinch here just rub the swollen area with Moxie.

Maryland

Maryland. Today the crabs decided to have a picnic of their own.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts. The British are coming! That much was obvious to Paul Revere.

Michigan

Michigan. Robots will never take over the Earth if they remain such nervous nellies.

Minnesota

Minnesota. Some places have a dry cold. In Minnesota it’s a nice cold, okie-dokie?

Mississippi

Mississippi. Slow cooked meat that’s finer than frogs hair.

Missouri

Missouri. The wakeboarding scenes were edited out of Mark Twain’s books for brevity.

Montana

Montana. Curiously absent from Lewis and Clark’s journals is Pierre, their loyal manservant.

Nebraska

Nebraska. Stringfellow approaches Chimney Rock, the Oregon Trail’s most literally named landmark.

Nevada

Nevada. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas hopes Gilbert, who rarely stage-crashes showgirl performances back in Des Moines.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire. Robert enjoys climbing in the White Mountains for the solitude that only untouched wilderness provides.

New Jersey

New Jersey. Situation on the Jersey Shore.

New Mexico

New Mexico. People tend to shy away from probing questions in the land of enchantment.

New York

New York. Give me your tired, your poor, your creamy masses of tartar sauce.

North Carolina

North Carolina. The truth is that while Wilber did most of the flying, Orville had other interests at the Kitty Hawk beach.

North Dakota

North Dakota. Oh, home on the range, where the reruns of Three’s Company play.

Ohio

Ohio. They may be pests for presidential candidates but kids love living in a swing state.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma. Home to famous cattle drives. They can go a long way in their methane-powered rides.

Oregon

Oregon. Only organic free-range chickens run amok at the Freebird food truck. Just don’t get pecked when you pluck.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania. Getting strong now, this cheesesteak’s long, wow! (With apologies to Pittsburgh and the Amish for this Lego depiction of Pennsylvania. Perhaps a Pennsylvania series is in order.)