Laura Wilson

American, b. 1939
Laura Wilson was born and raised in Norwell, Massachusetts. She majored in art at Connecticut College, graduating in 1961. She married Robert Wilson in 1963, and the couple moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1965. Wilson's attraction to photographs started as a young girl when she became interested in family photographs. Some of her earliest photographs are of her three young sons: "I had majored in painting in college. But with three little boys underfoot, I didn't have time to lift a paintbrush. Then a friend gave me a camera. I realized at once that the boys were perfect subjects." Wilson's son Owen credits his and his brothers' comfort in front of a camera to being frequently photographed by their mother. Wilson's professional career was launched in 1979 when Richard Avedon hired her to assist with his exhibition and book In the American West, which was commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum. Wilson traveled with Avedon for six years, helping him find subjects to photograph. Wilson also wrote the text for In the American West. Wilson's work with Avedon helped her become deeply familiar with the West and provided inspiration for her later projects. Wilson's photographs acknowledge the spectrum of cultures that occupy the West.
During the period she worked with Avedon, Wilson arrived at her interest in photographing people outside of mainstream America. "I became interested in men and women who are trying to live an idealized life against the odds." In a January 2018 interview she described her artistic attraction to isolated groups of people, saying, "I am drawn to people who live in an enclosed world — those people who live in isolated communities, whether by circumstance or accomplishment; I was curious about these groups and wanted to know more... my wish, as Eudora Welty wrote, 'would be not to point the finger in judgement but to part a curtain, that invisible shadow that falls between people.'" Wilson frequently refers to photography's ability to mitigate loss and the fleeting nature of life. Wilson has lectured on photography at Harvard University, the International Center of Photography in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Philosophical Society of Texas. She serves on the board of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

Source: wikipedia.com