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Jess Dugan’s image of Herb, gazing out dreamily at us from the soft safety of a sofa, simultaneously suggests a private, individual identity and the search for intimate connection with others. It’s part of the series "Every Breath We Drew," created between 2011 and 2015, in which Dugan photographed sitters in their homes. Dugan noted that their photographs of men and masculine individuals "act as a kind of mirror; they depict the type of gentle masculinity I am attracted to … the kind I want to embody … By asking others to be vulnerable with me through the act of being photographed, I am laying claim to what I find beautiful and powerful, while asking larger questions about how identity is formed."
Herb, from the series Every Breath We Drew
Jess T. Dugan (American, born in 1986)
2013
Medium/Technique
Photograph, inkjet print
Dimensions
Image: 45.7 x 61 cm (18 x 24 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Jess T. Dugan and Catherine Edelman Gallery
Accession Number2016.137
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Photography
ClassificationsPhotographs
Jess Dugan’s image of Herb, gazing out dreamily at us from the soft safety of a sofa, simultaneously suggests a private, individual identity and the search for intimate connection with others. It’s part of the series "Every Breath We Drew," created between 2011 and 2015, in which Dugan photographed sitters in their homes. Dugan noted that their photographs of men and masculine individuals "act as a kind of mirror; they depict the type of gentle masculinity I am attracted to … the kind I want to embody … By asking others to be vulnerable with me through the act of being photographed, I am laying claim to what I find beautiful and powerful, while asking larger questions about how identity is formed."
Provenance2016, gift of Jess T. Dugan, St. Louis, MO and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 27, 2016)
Copyright© Jess T. Dugan