Deborah Luster (born 1951) is a

photographic Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many ...

artist from

Northwest Arkansas Northwest Arkansas (NWA) is a metropolitan area and region in Arkansas within the Ozarks. It includes four of the ten largest cities in the state: Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Rogers, Arkansas, Rogers, ...

, US, and has been a professional photographer since the 1990s. Luster has at least one book in print, ''One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana'', and is known for using older technology such as

tintype A tintype, also known as a melanotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal, colloquially called 'tin' (though not actually tinplate, tin-coated), coated with a dark lacquer or Enamel paint, ...

to document and artistically portray violent crime and related topics. She is published and discussed in various international media such as ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', educational sources such as the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

, galleries such as the

Jack Shainman Gallery Jack Shainman Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in New York City. The gallery was founded by Jack Shainman and his then-partner Claude Simard (19562014) in 1984 in Washington, D.C. The gallery has a focus on artists from Africa, East Asia, and ...

and

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

Career and awards

Luster jointly won a Lange-Taylor Prize in 2000 with C.D. Wright with whom she has worked as a duo for ''One Big Self''. Viewing Tooth for an Eye by Deborah Luster 93847

Viewing Tooth for an Eye by Deborah Luster 93847

Luster published a 64-page 17-inch hardcover book titled ''Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish'' in February 2011. This work focuses on the effect a high rate of homicide has in New Orleans and each piece has a journey through it, or, "is circular, bringing the viewer through". Deborah Luster lives and works in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in the US, and

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

in Ireland. She has won the Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers in 2001, The John Gutmann Photography Fellowship in 2002, and a

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated dis ...

in 2013. She is a 2017 winner of a Ford Foundation Art of Change fellowship. Permanently featured in

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...

, and the

Museum of Contemporary Photography A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

, Chicago, Deborah Luster "creates a complex and vivid portrait". In earlier work, Luster photographed Mexican religious votive paintings and people she "connected" with to create "saints" in conjunction with C.D. Wright, poet. The intention was to create "magical" portraits and the name of this work was ''Rosesucker Retablos''. Luster has documented murder scenes in

and claims to be unaffected from visiting such places, but can be quoted describing some as possessed with energy and heat. Luster has produced more than 25,000 photographs in the last fifteen to twenty years focusing on old fashioned technology, particularly

, to produce a finish with an antique feel as part of the ''One Big Self'' project including inside work at

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

. Some pieces include graffiti and poetry and were featured free for many weeks as part of Prospect.1 New Orleans city art event. Luster worked with C.D Wright in Louisiana State Pen for six years (1998-2003) on ''One Big Self'' making portraits of prisoners in silver-gelatin emulsion on metal boards. Vince Aletti of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' said of her work "Suddenly, we are there, and desolation, desperation and death are very real." She gave visiting presentations at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

Hendrix College Hendrix College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Approximately 1,000 students are enrolled, mostly undergraduates. While affiliated with the United Methodist Chu ...

and Watkins College of Art and Design in 2013, while in 2014 she was awarded residency at the

Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art (), also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. It is located in Kilmainham, Dublin. History Irish art collector Gordon Lam ...

. She has been awarded the Anonymous Was A Woman Award, Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant, and the Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers. Her work is also featured in dozens of public collections. Luster's work on ''One Big Self'' extended to two other prisons including Angola Penitentiary and her work is permanently displayed in still more notable galleries including the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

References

External links

Official website

review Rhizomes website
Deborah Luster: One Big Self
interview

Kitchen Sisters The Kitchen Sisters are Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, who are National Public Radio radio producers in the United States. About Nelson and Silva met in 1979, in Santa Cruz, California. Silva was curating museum exhibits about local history, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luster, Deborah Photographers from Louisiana Photographers from Arkansas 1951 births Living people 20th-century American photographers 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American photographers 21st-century American women photographers