Ring Bearer
Artist
Deana Lawson
(American, born 1979)
Date2016
MediumInkjet print
DimensionsImage and sheet (est.): 43 × 54 inches (109.22 × 137.16 cm)
Mount (est.): 43 × 54 inches (109.22 × 137.16 cm)
Framed: 43 7/8 × 55 1/8 × 1 3/4 inches (111.44 × 140.02 × 4.45 cm)
Mount (est.): 43 × 54 inches (109.22 × 137.16 cm)
Framed: 43 7/8 × 55 1/8 × 1 3/4 inches (111.44 × 140.02 × 4.45 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2017.68.122
Signednone
Inscribednone
Markingsnone
Edition/State/Proofed. 1/4 + 2 A.P.s
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of gray-haired woman wearing sleeveless floral dress seated in a folding chair next to young boy dressed in a suit while holding a pink and red heart-shaped pillow with a ring tied to the center; neither are smiling. They are in front a curtained window next to a glass front cabinet, floor plant, and brown leather sofa.Gallery LabelA regal older woman sits in a folding chair next to a dapper attendant, both posing before Deana Lawson’s camera like grandmother and grandson. Lawson’s photographs have the appearance of snapshots, or photos found in a family album, but are in fact highly staged images populated mostly with strangers. She composes her subjects and settings, often rearranging personal belongings and directing poses.
“I wanted to find the familiar or find what felt like family, but through strangers. [These portraits are] a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen. It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent.” —Deana Lawson
“I wanted to find the familiar or find what felt like family, but through strangers. [These portraits are] a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen. It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent.” —Deana Lawson
Purchased from Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2017;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
Copyright© Deana Lawson
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Lauren Greenfield
2009; printed 2017
2022.20.48
