Artist
Dana Scruggs(American)American
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)
Sheet: 30 × 40 1/16 in. (76.2 × 101.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Photo Forum 2021
Object number2021.75
Not on view
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Department
PhotographySpecial Collections
Object Type
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.
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