Larry Knighten, Transylvania, Louisiana 1998

Deborah Luster made this small portrait of Larry Knighten in Transylvania, Louisiana, using a photographic plate. It's almost like a painting, isn't it? The colours are subdued, like aged sepia tones, which contributes to this sense of the past. Look closely at Larry's face. There's so much character etched into those features. One eyebrow is arched higher than the other. You can see the subtle textures, the minute imperfections that make the portrait feel so incredibly personal and real. The surface of the plate is far from perfect, with little bubbles and imperfections that scatter the light, which gives the picture an almost dreamlike quality. It reminds me of the portraits of Lucian Freud, where every wrinkle and pore tells a story. It captures a moment, but also a whole life. It feels like Luster is speaking to us across time about how we choose to see each other, remember each other. Art is like that, it is an ongoing conversation, with no fixed meanings, just different ways of seeing.