Diane Arbus: Revelations

part two

What does Arbus' work mean to me, as a practitioner? A lot of Arbus’ work is about identity. The people in her images are often ambiguously portrayed – men pretending to be women, for example. Other subjects are clearly showing the viewer aspects of their personality which they wish to convey as being ‘how I am’ for example A Husband and Wife in the Woods at a Nudist Camp, (1963).  Her many photographs of ‘freaks’ (for want of a better word) and mentally ill people show us subjects who might have a very strong or, conversely, a completely dishevelled sense of self, but who either way have a story to tell and a means, through Arbus’ lens, to tell it. I too take photographs of people - candids mostly, whereas Diane Arbus usually got her subjects to pose. I too, like to explore issues of identity, but unlike Arbus I don't feel particularly drawn to society's outsiders. (Having said that, there is no denying that people on the fringe are, by and large, more exotic, more idiosyncratic and represent more of a challenge for the lens.)

Whereas Arbus tended to negotiate access to her subjects (flattery, persuasion or blatant coercion), I work best when my subject is unaware; I believe one gets a more honest image that way. When my subjects do know I am there, either by consent or my having been spotted, then I need to build a relationship which encourages relaxed and natural behaviour with minimal self-consciousness.

Ethical considerations

There are clear ethical issues surrounding Arbus' work, although perhaps 'clear' is the wrong word to use here as the rights and wrongs of photography can never easily be categorised.

Perhaps there is a categorical imperative at work here - we have just as much right to see images of society's marginal members as we do anything else. More fitting, perhaps, is John Rawls' notion of the Veil of Ignorance where in all humankind is seen as equal, with no allowance of discrimination made for gender, age, race or, in the case of some of Arbus' subjects, disability. 

Does Arbus pander to the voyeuristic tendencies we all pretend we don't have? Are her pictures appealing because we like to look at the perverse, the odd, the shocking?

There is a difference between pictures designed to jolt us into realisation about something, such as those taken by war photographers, and those which are gratuitously shocking. I'm not certain Arbus sits on one camp or the other: she felt she was celebrating diversity with her photographs of strange and unusual people - and in today's terms she might be lauded for providing positive images of mental health, disability and eccentric behaviour, but she cannot be responsible for the viewers' reactions and interpretations of what is presented. 

We don't really know, of course, what level of consent Arbus was able to obtain for many of her images. Those which are clearly posed are almost certainly consensual, but what about the images of people with mental health conditions - were they completely aware of the the issues to the point where they could give informed consent? I can't imagine her wading in with a model release form before taking her photographs. Even those subjects who were willing participants sometimes felt abused and co-erced into taking a stance with which they were not comfortable; Germain Greer being the obvious example:

Wrestling with Diane Arbus The Guardian 

Greer said she felt abused, raped almost, by Arbus' domineering tactics. 

Websites

Tales of the unsuspecting Sean O'Hagan. Online version of article printed in The Observer (Accessed 24/10/05)

A Brush with Diane Arbus David Segal, The Washington Post. Interviews with people who posed for Arbus as children (the boy with the grenade, the twins). (Accessed 24/10/05)

A Troubled Genius Frozen in Time Frank Van Riper, The Washington Post . Review of the MoMA Revelations show and quotes from Colin Wood, the boy with the grenade. (Accessed 24/10/05)  

Wrestling with Diane Arbus Saturday October 8, 2005, The Guardian 

Bibliography

Warner Marien, Mary. Photography: A Cultural History. pub. Laurence King Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1856692892

Clarke, G. The Photograph: A Visual and Cultural History (Oxford History of Art S.) pub. Oxford, 1997

Goldberg, V. Light Matters: Writings on Photography pub. Aperture 2005 ISBN 1931788634

Rawls, J. A Theory of Justice. pub Harward University Press 2005. (1971) ISBN 0674017722

(C) Helen Williams 2005