James Wells, Angola, Louisiana
April 22, 2001
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print on aluminum
Dimensions
image/plate: 12.7 × 9.9 cm (5 × 3 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Julia J. Norrell, in Honor of Claude Simard and the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
2014.177.151
Art Historical Context
**James Wells, Angola, Louisiana** (2001) is a poignant gelatin silver print on aluminum by photographer Deborah Luster, capturing the human face behind bars at Louisiana's notorious Angola State Penitentiary. Measuring just 12.7 × 9.8 cm—like a mugshot or ID badge—this intimate portrait of inmate James Wells invites viewers to confront the individuality often erased in the prison system. Donated to the National Gallery of Art in honor of its photography milestone, it exemplifies Luster's commitment to documenting incarceration's human toll. Angola, sprawling across 18,000 acres of former sla...
About the Artist
Deborah Luster
Deborah Luster, born in 1951 in Bend, Oregon, grew up in Northwest Arkansas and later made her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with additional time spent in Galway, Ireland. Her path to photography was profoundly shaped by personal tragedy: the 1988 murder of her mother, which prompted her to take up the medium as a means of processing grief and exploring violence's aftermath. Luster attended the ...