DIANE ARBUS

DIANE ARBUS (1923 – 1971)

“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” – Diane Arbus

For Arbus, photography was a medium that tangled with the facts. Many of her subjects face the camera implicitly aware of their collaboration in the portrait-making process. In her photographs, the self-conscious
encounter between photographer and subject becomes a central drama of the picture.
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The photographs by Diane Arbus provoke a sense of controversy as they depict devients and marginal people such as, dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists, circus performers and people who dont comform to societys beauty. What i find inspiring about Arbus is her confidence in her work – there is alot of negativity surrounding her photography and choice of subject matter – but this never detered her or forced her to second guess herself – it is this quality that i admire.

In addition, looking at these photographs, i dont feel that Arbus is mocking these people, personally i feel that Arbus is trying to capture a different sense of beauty – the beauty of flaws. When i saw these photographs in exhibition i was stunned by them and quickly walked away from them as i didnt know how to react to them, however while walking around the rest of the exhibition, they continued to play on my mind, causing me tomake my way back to them.