Artwork: 2015.18.1
Portrait of Janet Heling Roberts
Janet Heling Roberts recalls jokingly telling Hazel Larsen Archer that she should title the triple portrait of her taken around the same time as Dirty Hair, and call this one Clean Hair. "I evidently cleaned up my act," she remembered in 2015. "This Clean Hair photo means a lot to me as the gold bracelet I'm wearing was given to me by my stepbrother, Wilbur Heling. It was my favorite piece of jewelry—I worshipped my stepbrother who was 17 years older. He ran away from home—I never saw him but a few times after that (which breaks my heart to think of it!) So when I lost it plowing the farm at BMC, it was a great loss. I still think of it—wrapped around the roots of some weed or, hopefully, around the roots of a wildflower!"
Copyright Estate of Hazel Larsen Archer
Gift of Janet Heling Roberts
Hazel Larsen Archer, Portrait of Janet Heling Roberts, circa 1944 - 1945. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. Gift of Janet Heling Roberts.