"Dirty Dirt," Angola, Louisiana 3 - 1999

Deborah Luster created "Dirty Dirt" using the wet plate collodion process, a 19th-century photographic technique. This method involves coating a glass or metal plate with light-sensitive chemicals, exposing it in a camera while still wet, and then developing it immediately. The resulting image has a unique tonal range and surface quality. Luster's choice of this antiquated process adds layers of meaning to the portrait. The manual nature of wet plate collodion, with its reliance on darkroom skills, stands in sharp contrast to modern digital photography. The subject, wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with "Dirty Dirt," and the context of Angola, Louisiana, evoke themes of labor, incarceration, and the history of exploitation in the American South. The process itself – labor-intensive and demanding – mirrors the work and lives of those it depicts. Considering the materials, making, and context helps us understand the intersection of craft, design, and materiality, challenging the traditional distinctions between art and life.