Dana Scruggs
Self Portrait

Self Portrait
Self Portrait
Self Portrait
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Self Portrait
DateMay 2020, printed April 2021
MediumInkjet print
DimensionsImage: 28 × 38 1/8 in. (71.1 × 96.8 cm)
Sheet: 30 × 40 1/16 in. (76.2 × 101.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Photo Forum 2021
Object number2021.75
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


As an in-demand portrait photographer, Dana Scruggs found the stillness and solitude of the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic too strange to put into words. So, at home in New York, she adopted a dog (Bambi) for company and channeled her restless worry into stunning self-portraits. This softly lit portrait recalls the long history of odalisque imagery in art. Yet, Scruggs is not merely the sitter. As subject, maker, and director, she claims and controls every part of the work and, in doing so, reclaims the control and agency the pandemic seemed to strip from her.



ProvenanceThe artist; purchased by MFAH, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[No inscriptions]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Dana Salvo
c. 1986–1996
Chromogenic print
99.145
Milk and Honey
Dana Marshall
1991
Silver dye bleach print
2002.1608
Ratna
Dana Marshall
1990
Silver dye bleach print
2002.1607
Untitled #045
Dana Harper
2004–2005
Gelatin silver print
2006.348
Untitled #040
Dana Harper
2005
Gelatin silver print
2006.347
Untitled #052
Dana Harper
2004 - 2005
Gelatin silver print
2006.349
Helping their Buddies
Dana Stone
September 29, 1967
Gelatin silver print
2009.1638
Untitled #060
Dana Harper
2005
Gelatin silver print
2006.350
Untitled #044
Dana Harper
2005
Gelatin silver print
2006.352
Untitled #025
Dana Harper
2004
Gelatin silver print
2006.351
Untitled #019
Dana Harper
2004
Gelatin silver print
2006.346
Untitled #007
Dana Harper
2004
Gelatin silver print
2006.345