Word: arbus
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...Diane Arbus is notorious as the woman who photographed freaks. There is an aura about her, sparked by her suicide in 1971, which makes you wonder, "Is she one who saw too much and couldn't stand up to the vision?" For that vision was so intense, so brutally direct and precise, even translation into the photographic medium did not diminish its power. The collection of Arbus's work at the Worcester Art Museum testifies to this. Repulsion and fascination are wrenched out of your guts when your eyes interlock with those of dwarves, transvestites, nudists, howling babies, and even...
...experience of looking at Arbus's photography is so vital because the subject matter and style are thoroughly intertwined. They evolve into a vivid documentary recreation of the artist's personal encounters with reality. Breaking out of the stifling cocoon of a wealthy family, and reacting against the highly stylized fashion photography of her job, Diane Arbus made her foray into the freak world to establish a much needed contact with a hard core reality. She was motivated by this psychological drive and not by any perverse delight in the sensationalism of the subject matter. Overcoming ingrained social inhibitions, Arbus...
...Arbus's relationship with those she photographed was hardly voyeuristic or exploitative. With the self-conscious use of the camera that portraiture requires, it is evident that she had the willing cooperation of all who posed for her. She even succeeded in photographing under very intimate conditions--in homes, bedrooms, and nudist camps...
...explicit acknowledgment of the camera's presence, Arbus shunned the technique popularized by Henri Cartier Bresson called "the decisive moment." This technique implies an unobtrusive use of the camera to catch people at the exact instant of time when they reveal a significant characteristic. From the photographs which result, it is easy to distill general truths that treat people only in a simplistic relationship to the larger mass of humanity...
...Arbus's rejection of this technique had many reverberations. It demonstrated a strong desire to collaborate openly and sincerely with her subjects, to put herself on the line, instead of sneaking a shot behind their backs as though they were part of a circus peep show. By obtaining prior approval, she accorded them the dignity and status of individual human beings. This emphasis on their individuality prevents one from lumping them together for any sort of superficial moralizing, or using them, for instance, as sociological evidence in an attempt to justify the value of photography to society...