Tammy Mullins, St. Gabriel, Louisiana 2 - 2001

Deborah Luster made this photograph, Tammy Mullins, St. Gabriel, Louisiana, using the 19th-century process, tintype. You can feel the darks and lights, the way they balance like a tightrope walker. There is something about the face in this piece that really grabs me. It's like a mask, or war paint. Is she hiding or revealing herself? The striped garment and the background become a field of lines and darkness. The way the image has aged, it feels like a ghost or a half-remembered dream. You can almost smell the chemicals used to create it. The imperfection gives it so much charm. This image reminds me of the work of Diane Arbus, who also had an eye for the unusual and the unsettling. But in Luster's work, there is a sense of respect and dignity that is truly moving. It’s a powerful reminder that art is not just about what we see, but how we see it.