Ms. Rose Davis, St. Gabriel, Louisiana
May 28, 1999
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print on aluminum
Dimensions
image/plate: 12.7 × 10.2 cm (5 × 4 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
2014.177.148
Art Historical Context
Deborah Luster's *Ms. Rose Davis, St. Gabriel, Louisiana* (1999) is an intimate portrait that captures the quiet dignity of its subject, a woman from the small Louisiana community of St. Gabriel. Created at the turn of the millennium, this gelatin silver print reflects Luster's documentary approach to everyday lives in the American South, where personal stories intersect with place and history. The precisely dated image—May 28, 1999—invites viewers to ponder the specific moment frozen in time, evoking the region's complex cultural tapestry of resilience and identity. Printed on aluminum, the ...
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 ...