Doug Dubois

Doug DuBois (born 1960) was first introduced to a group of teenagers from the Russell Heights housing estate while he was an artist-in-residence in Cobh, on the southwest coast of Ireland. He was fascinated by the insular neighborhood, in which "everyone seems to be someone's cousin, former girlfriend, or spouse." DuBois gained entry when two participants of a workshop he taught took him to a local hangout spot, opening his eyes to a world of not-quite-adults, struggling through the last days of their childhood. Over the course of five years, DuBois returned to Russell Heights.
Combining portraits, spontaneous encounters and collaborative performances, the images in Doug DuBois: My Last Day at Seventeen hover between documentary and fiction. A follow-up to DuBois' acclaimed first book, All the Days and Nights, this volume examines the uncertainties of growing up in Ireland today while highlighting the unique relationship between artist and subject.

Doug DuBois: All the Days and Nights, the artist's first and long-awaited monograph, resonates with diaristic immediacy, offering a potent examination of family relations under stress 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. 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. These details constitute a complex and resonant picture of family ties..." More than 20 years later, DuBois' project has developed in remarkable ways.