Doug DuBois began photographing his family in 1984, prior to his father’s near-fatal fall from a commuter train and his mother’s subsequent breakdown and hospitalizations. While these events set a narrative backdrop to his work, the emotional freight is carried by the details as described by the artist: “the pallor of my mother’s skin, the glare of my father’s gaze and the tactile communion between my sister and nephew constitute a complex and resonant picture of family ties.”
More than twenty years later, DuBois’s project has developed in remarkable ways. Doug DuBois: All the Days and Nights resonates with emotional immediacy, offering a potent examination of family relations, and what it means to subject personal relationships to the unblinking eye of the camera. Each photograph is rich with color, nuanced gestures and glances enveloping the viewer in a multivalent, emotionally tense world.