DEANA LAWSON: The Selection of Images

These images by American artist DEANA LAWSON are a response to our request for a page-specific visual essay involving unpublished/found/archival photographs “from the cutting room floor.” The prompt was the result of our interest in the editorial process by which Lawson selects what makes it into her exhibitions and catalogues – and our curiosity about the material outtakes that linger in the studio once this process is complete.

"The photo-based artist DEANA LAWSON chose not to issue a statement about the selection of images." – Deana Lawson Studio, New York, 2020.

Lawson is known for intimate, meticulously composed portraits that deploy formal photographic convention to interrogate representations of power and liberation. According to her artist bio, she is visually inspired by the materiality of black culture and its expression as seen through the body and in domestic environments.