50 States of Lego: Satire Through Toys

New Mex­i­co

Did you know that in addi­tion to this blog, I also write for Beautiful/Decay? I say that because I orig­i­nal­ly wrote about Jeff Friesen’s 50 States of Lego for that site, but I liked it so much I want­ed to share it on Brown Paper Bag, too!

Jeff is a pho­tog­ra­ph­er inspired  was by his daugh­ter’s Legos to sat­i­rize the 50 Unit­ed States, based on pre­con­ceived notions, stereo­types, and the his­to­ry of each place. He adds a twist on many of these dio­ra­mas by mak­ing them over the top, adding fan­tas­ti­cal and absurd sit­u­a­tions. To accom­pa­ny his pho­tographs, Jeff wrote wit­ty cap­tions about them. For instance, West Vir­ginia is depict­ed above. He writes, “Bob­by has five min­utes left on his shift in the coal mine. Just enough time to dig a lit­tle deeper.”

I was a Lego fanat­ic as a kid, as I am sure many of you were. So, see­ing Jef­f’s inter­pre­ta­tion of the 50 States with this icon­ic toy is real­ly amus­ing and nos­tal­gic. If you live in the US, what is your state known for? Does it match up with what Jeff created?

All images via Jef­f’s web­site, where you can pur­chase prints. H/T Hon­est­ly WTF.

Wash­ing­ton

Mary­land

Wis­con­sin

Utah

Min­neso­ta

Kansas

Cal­i­for­nia

Texas

Alas­ka