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• See Also: Making Friends in the New York Public Library Picture Collection
  
• I Want Everyone to Know: The Black History Month Doors at Dr. MLK, Jr. Elem. School

Fotoautomatica

• How to Mail a Letter Anywhere in the U.S.

Take Me With You
Practice Log 2000–2023
Hello Pretty City zine
At State and Pearl

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Dear Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda Forever FOREVER Festival 2025 Trailer
Take Me With You
Making a Travel Journal
Delights of My Neighborhood
Send Me a Letter
TEDx Albany: Hello Pretty City, A Love Story
Book Looking at The Pond with Harrell Fletcher

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Readers’ ViewSingle channel video, 19 minutesLibrary at Portland State University, Oregon2023–now

This silent film was produced for viewing in the Portland State University library in an area designated for graduate students to gather and collaborate. The images are from my ongoing project photographing the floral arrangements at Portland’s Central Library. 

The continuously looping video of images documenting a feature of the nearby public library embeds the city’s knowledge into the university, enacting one of the ways that the city can serve knowledge to the university. This is a concept I emphasized in an earlier project critiquing the institution by inverting the PSU motto from “let knowledge serve the city” to “let the city serve knowledge.” 

The flowers at Central Library are changed weekly and I’ve photographed them regularly since 2018. Visible from the moment patrons enter the building, the large bouquets reflect the seasons and are designed by Kim Foren, owner of Geranium Lake Flowers. The arrangements are an endowed gift from the Templeton Foundation in honor of the late Ruth Roberts Templeton’s love of gardens and flowers. Established in 1996, the endowment funds fresh flowers for the staircase landing at the Central Library in perpetuity.

During the public artist talk in the PSU Library, I invited Kim to share her experiences creating the arrangements and connections to the library and city. Ruth Richmond, the granddaughter of Ruth Templeton and a trustee of the Foundation, spoke about the family’s matriarch and their ongoing gift to the library in the form of beautiful flowers for its patrons and staff. A library patron spoke about the role the flowers played in her life when she was homeless.

The video is on YouTube and is available for the public to screen worldwide.

©2025Laura Glazer@helloprettycity

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