Transylvania, Louisiana 1998 - 2002

Deborah Luster made this photograph, "Transylvania, Louisiana," sometime in the recent past. It's not paint, but it has that old time-y feel. I love the way the human arm becomes a canvas. I'm thinking about how she captured skin – it’s like a memory, fading, yet still there. And what about that tattoo, a flag, maybe a motto, inscribed with "Emancipation!" It's a shout, a whisper, permanent, yet ephemeral. I imagine her thinking about the stories etched onto our bodies, the weight of history pressing into the present. The tattoo feels like drawing, like Cy Twombly. This piece feels connected to Luster's wider exploration of portraiture and memory, inviting us to consider how images shape our understanding of identity. Artists, we're all just riffing off each other, you know? We are taking history and shaping it in our way. This photo helps me think about how meaning is never fixed, always evolving.