St. Gabriel, Louisiana 26 - 2000

Deborah Luster made this tintype, St. Gabriel, Louisiana, using a photographic process that feels almost like alchemy. The sepia tones give the image a ghostly, antique quality, like something unearthed from a forgotten past. It's a small plate, but it holds so much. Look at the way the light catches the subject’s face. There's this incredible tension between the sitter’s expression and the heavy work boots they're wearing. And that big, blocky 'W' on the pants leg – it's like a brand. The texture of the metal plate, with its imperfections and subtle variations, adds to the feeling that this is more than just a picture; it's an object with its own story. It reminds me a bit of the unflinching portraits of Diane Arbus, that same willingness to look at the world as it is, with all its rough edges. And just like Arbus, Luster isn't afraid of the ambiguous, the unanswerable questions about who we are and what we do to each other.