Looking: Diane Arbus' Depictions of Disability, Neurodiversity and "Difference"

Excerpts of writing about works of art by Arbus explore her unique way of looking at "othered" people with her camera and what it tells us about looking

Continuing this month’s deeper dive into the work of Diane Arbus, today I want to share with you some quotes/excerpts/thoughts from others about how the photographs that she took represent disability, neurodiversity, mental health challenges, and “difference”. My hope is that these excerpts from others might expose you to works of Diane Arbus that you don’t know and/or provide insights into the way that she depicted people that go beyond what I’ve already shared in the previous posts in this series.

Hermaphrodite and a Dog in a Carnival Trailer, Md., Arbus, Brooklyn Museum

Stephen Hobson sets the stage for some of my thoughts in Social Distance: Intimacy, the Uncanny, and Extimacy in the Photographs of Diane Arbus:

Looking at Arbus’ work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stephen writes: