Hobby Horse, Angola, Louisiana 16 - 1999

Curator: This haunting piece is Deborah Luster's "Hobby Horse, Angola, Louisiana" dating from 1999. It's a photograph that immediately evokes something forlorn, almost unsettling, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Absolutely. The stark contrast, that velvety black background...it feels like childhood innocence suspended, almost entombed. Curator: Luster created this using the tintype process. These are direct positives on metal, lending it that antique, ghost-like quality. The men holding the rocker create this incredible liminal space of uncertainty. Editor: Knowing it was taken in Angola, Louisiana, famously the site of the state penitentiary, that feeling of suspension gains so much weight. That adds another layer; you see this horse that children play with, and that adds an idea of someone not really being allowed to have their full childhood experience. Curator: Precisely! Angola’s history deeply informs her work. Her lens examines the lives of those touched by incarceration. Editor: How potent is the title. To hold a "hobby horse" also to hold and be subject to a punitive culture. A stark counterpoint, creating a poignant commentary on innocence, captivity, and loss, framed within the institutional spaces of the American South. The use of the tintype echoes that past. Curator: And Luster doesn’t offer easy answers. She presents us with the rawness and invites reflection. Are we complicit, complicit in their punishment for life. Editor: She does so masterfully, using such minimal components but getting right to the core. So few objects. A blank stare as the image returns to us. Curator: Agreed. "Hobby Horse, Angola, Louisiana," a small image, a massive heart. Editor: Indeed. A little picture carrying an important and devastating critique.