Debra Roberson, a 1985 graduate of Natchitoches Central High School, and her spouse, award-winning writer Mary Dumars, have been accepted to participate in the Chateau D’Orquevaux artist residency in Orquevaux, France, in the Champagne D’Ardenne region. The residency is scheduled for July 22 through Aug. 4, 2027.
Roberson and Dumars are both roster artists with the Shreveport Regional Arts Council. Roberson is an award-winning documentary photographer, while Dumars is an award-winning writer and poet. The artists learned about the residency after a fellow juried artist applied and was accepted. Roberson researched the opportunity and decided to apply and encourage Dumars to apply as well.
Dumars said the opportunity to travel to France, have two weeks of uninterrupted and focused time for her artistry and collaborate with Roberson appealed to her.
The application process required applicants to submit a biography, artist statement, curriculum vitae and website with samples of their work. Applications undergo a review process that takes several weeks before applicants receive a final decision. The residency accepts 20 artists from around the world for each two- to three-week session. Roberson described it as a top residency that has received top marks and highest honors.
“This is significant as few artists are accepted,” Roberson said.
Roberson said the acceptance was particularly meaningful because she considers Natchitoches her ancestral home and will represent Natchitoches, Louisiana, during the residency.
Dumars said her family comes from the Village of Natchez, Louisiana. Her mother and grandmother were born on a plantation when cotton was still a major part of the area’s economy. She said she is a first-generation college student and the first person in her immediate family to embrace and proclaim her artistic gifts.
“Being accepted at a prestigious art residency, in another country, is an unimagined dream come true,” Dumars said.
During the residency, Roberson plans to photograph structures, landscapes and people. She also plans to conduct interviews with townspeople and work on poems and short stories in collaboration with Dumars. Roberson describes her photography as primarily documentary photography in black and white, although she also photographs landscapes, flowers, people and antique structures.
She is also a writer and has six books: “Cane River Chronicles: Surviving on the prayers of our ancestors,” “By F.A.I.T.H.: A Memoire,” “Flowers of the Ark-LA-Tex,” “Living to Live: A Devotional,” “Listen and you will hear,” and “You can not erase what’s in your face.”
Dumars plans to collaborate with Roberson on a themed collection of poetry while also working on short stories and a new novel. She also plans to research an order of nuns who traveled from France to Louisiana to open a school. The story inspired a short story she wrote two years ago, and she began expanding the story last year.
Dumars said she hopes her time in France will allow her to further research the group of women and improve her skills in worldbuilding. She hopes to have a first draft of a new novel upon returning home. Both artists also plan to develop work for exhibitions following the residency.
The exhibitions are scheduled to take place three months after they return to the United States at the SRAC Artstation in Shreveport. Roberson also hopes to display her artwork at the NSU Hanchey Gallery. The work created in France will serve as the anchor for the exhibitions.
The artists said their time in France will provide an opportunity to experience a different country and culture and bring new perspectives to their work. Roberson said the antiquity of Europe will provide a backdrop for documenting history and historical facts, and she wants to capture the country that founded Natchitoches. Dumars said exposure to new ideas, languages and ways of living influences artistic work. She anticipates that immersion in French culture will give her a greater understanding of French-influenced Louisiana, including its language, traditions and habits.
Roberson hopes to gain new ways of capturing photography and further her career, including the possibility of participating in another renowned artist residency. Dumars said the residency will provide uninterrupted time to study and exercise her craft. She hopes to develop greater discipline in fully immersing herself in the creative process and said participation in a prestigious residency also elevates the value of her work.
Natchitoches has played an important role in the artistic work of both women.
Roberson said both of her parents were born and raised on plantations in Natchitoches, which gave her a desire to document the area’s history through her photography and writing. Dumars said her youth and adulthood were influenced by Natchitoches culture, including memories of traveling to her family’s home, learning about the area’s culture and language, and dancing to Zydeco. She said those values and experiences continue to influence the characters in her writing.
Both artists maintain family connections to the area.
Roberson said her immediate family continues to live and work in Natchitoches, including her 91-year-old father, Peter Roberson, Jr., and her 89-year-old mother, Audrey Mae Jackson Roberson. She said she is in Natchitoches several times a week and attends church at Greater New Hope Ministries.
Dumars said most of her family continues to reside in the Village of Natchez and Natchitoches Parish. She also works to document the lives of Black residents in Natchez, including through a docufilm she produced in 2023. Roberson said representing Natchitoches in France is an honor because of her connection to the community and its history.
“I love Natchitoches and its history,” Roberson said. “I am honored to get this opportunity to represent Natchitoches on the other side of the world!”
Dumars said representing the area is also a source of pride because of her family’s French and African heritage. Both artists said they hope their participation demonstrates what is possible for artists from Natchitoches and Louisiana.
Roberson said Natchitoches is a special place and that her photography highlights its history and beauty. Dumars said children have the potential to go anywhere and accomplish anything they set their minds to accomplish, adding that Natchitoches provides a rich and storied inheritance from which people can move forward. Roberson and Dumars also credited the Shreveport Regional Arts Council with supporting their artistic careers.
Roberson said joining SRAC as a roster artist was an important step in her career. She said she has been supported and challenged, received awards and had her first solo exhibition through winning Critical Mass at SRAC. She has exhibited in Arkansas, North Carolina, New Jersey, California and across Louisiana. Dumars said SRAC has supported her artistry for decades by providing venues for poetry recitations, short-story readings and one-woman shows about her family’s history. She said SRAC also provides exhibition space for her written-word pieces and offers workshops and lessons that have helped her improve her work.
Roberson said organizations such as SRAC are important because they help artists learn about opportunities both domestically and internationally.
“Artists in Louisiana do not need to limit themselves to regional opportunities,” Roberson said. “We have so much talent here and the world is our stage.”
Dumars said SRAC covers nine parishes in Northwest and Central Louisiana, including Natchitoches, and that its support brings artists together to learn from one another, network, collaborate and represent the region.
Following the residency, Roberson expects to receive additional opportunities to share her photography in other places. She also plans to write a poetry book based on what she learns during the experience. Dumars hopes the experience will provide additional material for characters in her poetry, short stories and novels and help draw more readers to her work.
The residency also holds a personal connection for Roberson because of her previous experience in France.
After graduating from Natchitoches Central High School, Roberson attended Dartmouth College and studied in Blois, France, where she stayed with a French family that did not speak English. She hopes to speak French again and possibly visit the family. Dumars said she has a strong appreciation for French and Franco-Caribbean culture. She studied French in elementary school, high school and college, as well as French-African and French-Caribbean literature in college.
For Roberson, the residency represents another step in her artistic career.
“It is exactly where I need to be,” Roberson said. “I keep pushing myself to be the best photographer I can be. This is a challenge I readily accept.”
Dumars said she has been writing since childhood and recalled promising author Gwendolyn Brooks that she wanted to be a writer. Brooks told her to “Keep writing!” She said the residency confirms that her skills as a writer have grown and that she is ready to move to the next level through an international critique.
The artists said the experience will allow them to continue developing their work while carrying their Louisiana and Natchitoches connections with them to France.