Photographer #453: Deborah Luster

Deborah Luster, 1951, USA, is a photographer based in New Orleans, USA and Galway, Ireland. In 1988 her mother was murdered by a hired killer. In 1998 it led her to start the project entitled One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana in which she photographed inmates of three Louisiana prisons. The photographs were published in a monograph in 2003 together with texts from poet C.D. Wright. She photographed each person as they presented their very own selves. The entire archive consisted of tens of thousands of portraits and she has given +/- 25.000 wallet-sized prints back to the portrayed. Her recent body of work, Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish, was released as a monograph in 2011. It consists of images that function as an archive of historical and contemporary homicide sites in New Orleans. She researched city police homicide reports and photographed the exact locations of the murders. "By approaching cityscapes through the disorienting context of homicide, the work disturbs the deep crust of stereotypical visual interpretations of New Orleans." Her work has been exhibited on numerous occasions, mainly in the USA. The following images come from the series Tooth for an Eye, One Big Self and Rosesucker Retablos.

Website: www.deborahluster.com

Photographer #404: Hiroshi Watanabe

Hiroshi Watanabe, 1951, Japan, is a California based photographer who graduated from the Department of Photography at Nihon University in 1975. He moved to the US and started working in the production of TV commercials. Later he even created his own production company. 20 years later, in 1995, he started to photograph again and travel the world. He closed the production company in 2000 and has since devoted his time to be a photographer. Hiroshi is interested in what humans do, seeking to capture people and traditions. In 2010 he released the book Love Point which contains studio images of sexdolls mixed with images of real girls dressed in the same way. For his book Suo Sarumawashi he photographed a tradition that has existed for over a thousand years in Japan. Dancing and performing monkeys were initially used as a form of religious ritual to protect the horses of warriors. Today they perform acrobatic stunts and comedic skits for an audience. He took intimate portraits of the monkeys, displaying human-like features. Hiroshi has released a large number of books and his work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world. The following images come from the series Love Point, Suo Sarumawashi and Kabuki Players.

Website: www.hiroshiwatanabe.com

Photographer #119: Paul Kenny

Paul Kenny, Great-Britain, 1951, makes photographs that are bright in color and mysterious. One has to look twice before noticing what the viewer is looking at. Kenny gathers materials from the beach and takes them to his studio. He arranges the "insignificant things" like dried seawater, plastic fragments, seaweed and beer can bottoms to get his final result. The following images come from the series Mull Works, Seaworks 3 and Seaworks 1.

Website: www.paul-kenny.co.uk