Born in Louisiana in 1985, Florestine Perrault Collins the oldest of six children born to free African American parents. She would attend public school until age six, until the pressures of six children took Florestine out of school to help earn money for the family.

By age 14, the year 1909, Florestine was navigating issues of race and gender to start studying photography under white male photographers in her area. In order to study under them, Florestine was required to pose as a white woman. Her efforts paid off however, when in the 1920 US Census Florestine as one of only 101 black female photographers in the country. She was also, in fact, the only one in New Orleans at the time.

Florestine’s photography was unique in that she worked primarily with women and children of color in domestic settings, where most photography at the time was centered on white men. Her work is still relevant as an insight into the lives of the women she photographed and as resistance against the stereotypes surrounding women of colour that persist today. Her work portrayed her subjects in delicate, domestic, and beautiful portraiture that ran counter to many portrayals of African Americans at the time.

Despite a first marriage in which her husband attempted to suppress Florestine’s professional career, she became a successful businesswoman and self-marketer -- opening first a home studio and then a standalone photography studio on North Calibourne Avenue in 1923. Despite limitations placed on her not only by gender but by her race, Florestine built a career and business that helped her family survive the Great Depression, and ultimately lasted over thirty years.