Parr e Badger su Diane Arbus

19Ott07

Martin Parr e Gary Badger scrivono delle considerazioni eccellenti nel loro libro.

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Arbus is regarded by many as little more than a voyeuristic photographer of ‘freaks’, however striking her imagery’s formal qualities. But if one looks beyond the superficial controversies one finds not only a complex, but a subtle artist, and one working fully in the documentary mode. While it is true that she often photographed those outside society’s norms, a more pertinent observation is that if she made ‘normal’ look like ‘freaks’ , she also made ‘freaks’ look like ‘normals’. Furthermore, her exploration of normalcy was complicated by gender issues. In her aggressive, full-frontal ‘exploitation’ of her subjects, Arbus appropriated an essentially male convention: that of staring. Indeed, it may well be her assumption of this prerogative of masculine domination that attracted much of the negative comment, compounded by her undercutting of gender stereotypes. She was a great feminist photographer. Her women and girls are invariably strong – like the confident twins shown here – and her men are frequently damaged or uncomfortable in their surroundings.

Her vision was much more complex than many have acknowledged, perhaps perverse but never perverted – a beautiful, sad, moving testament to the human condition, brilliantly edited and sequenced.

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estratto da The Photobook – A History vol.1
Gary Badger, Martin Parr
Phaidon Press

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