Diane Arbus was an American photographer known for her portraits of marginalized groups. She was born into a wealthy family but felt alienated as a child. Arbus began a fashion photography business but became interested in photographing outsider groups. Her black and white square format portraits of "freaks, transvestites and nudists" were often dismissed as voyeuristic. Arbus was fascinated by questions of identity and sought to depict society's "pathetic, heroic, frightening, hilarious, all-too-human inhabitants." Later in her career, photographing subjects with mental disabilities left her feeling drained, and she questioned whether her work still mattered to her.

1. Diane Arbus
Chloe Hagger, Sian Williams & Lauren Symons

2. • March 14 1923- July 26 1971
• American photographer
• Felt alienated from “real life” as a
child
• Grew up in a wealthy, family
environment
• Married at 18 and sets up a fashion
photography business with her
husband

3. Style
• Most of Arbus‟s work is in black and white square format, mostly portraits
• Arbus was often dismissed as a voyeur due to her photos of freaks,
transvestites and nudists
• “Diane Arbus brought an unblinking, discerning eye to society's underside
and to its pathetic, heroic, frightening, hilarious, all-too-human inhabitants”
Frank Van Riper
• Her photos have a dark „edge‟

4. Identical Twins
"She was involved in the question of identity. Who am I and who are you?”
Patricia Bosworth

5. ‘A young man with curlers at home on West 20th Street, N.Y.

6. Untitled
“Finally what I‟ve been searching
for”

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0ZTxSZ25ws&feature=relmfu

8. “„My work doesn‟t do it for me anymore‟ she said. She had
spent months photographing these mental retardates and
she was exhausted, drained from the experience, and the
pictures were no good – out of control. She could not
confront these subjects as she had in the past – it was a new
thing for her. She didn‟t know what it meant. She had just
developed the contacts, but hadn‟t printed them. Suddenly it
didn‟t matter.”
Nancy Grossman
(A Biography by Patricia Bosworth)

9. Humanist or voyeur?
In today‟s society would Arbus‟ photos be socially
acceptable?
Do you think her fascination with „freaks‟ was a healthy
obsession or something darker/deeper?
Do you think Arbus surrounded herself with „freaks‟
because she felt like a freak herself?
Do you think Arbus‟ photos reflect her insecurities and
troubled childhood or was it just a fascination?

10. Bibliography