I saw her 'Untitled' [Arbus, Diane, Doon Arbus, and Yolanda Cuomo. Diane Arbus: Untitled. New York: Aperture, 1995] last week. It contains photographs taken at residences for the mentally retarded 1969-1971.
"Finally what I've been searching for." Diane Arbus
"...created out of the courage to see things as they really are, the grace to permit them simply to be, and a deceptive simplicity that p[ermits itself neither fancy nor artifice..." Doon Arbus (daughter)
Some people see these images as voyeurism; a freak show. We're told the Victorians visited lunatic asylums for prurient entertainment. I disagree.
The people depicted are people; they seem to be enjoying themselves; their costumes and poses are apparently for their pleasure. The point of these images seems to me to be to show us the people we don't see, to bring them to our attention, to show to us that despite their difference, they are as human as we are, and worthy of the same respect. To hide them away (or to hide away from them) denies them this right.
http://diane-arbus-photography.com/
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