The fascinating life work of Diane Arbus
Diane Nemorev was born on March 14, 1923 in New York City, NY, and grew up in Central Park West, NY. She was the child of wealthy Jewish parents but was mainly raised by several governesses. Because of that, she did not have a good relationship with her parents and often felt alone. Diane felt unreality in her life. When Diane learned new things, she had the feeling she couldn’t experience it. As a child she painted at school. Diane hated painting and when she graduated from High School, she stopped immediately. Painting made her feel shaky, because Arbus hated the smell of paint and the noise of the brush on the paper. People would say Diane was terrific at it, but she felt as if something was terrific, she didn’t want to do it.
At the age of thirteen Diane fell in love with Allan Arbus. They got married when she turned eighteen against the will of her parents. The five-year older Allan went to the army to study photography. When he came back he started a career as photographer in advertising and fashion. They started working together in advertisement, Diane as his assistant, and took pictures for her father's business. During that period, she decided she wanted to become a photographer and started to work by herself. Diane and Allan started soon a family after their marriage. They got two daughters, Doon (Born april 3, 1945) and Amy (born in 1954).
Between the period 1955 and 1957, Diana studied photography with the Austrian -American Lisette Model, one of the most famous teachers photography that time. Lisette noticed immediately Diane’s commercial photographs and helped to go deeper into her personal work. Lisette showed Diane that when you get more specific in your pictures...
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.... But Diane goes a step further. She wanted to give a ‘sign to the world, that there is a point between what you want people to know about you and what you can not help people knowing about you .’ (Diane Arbus) She found these 'freaks' compelling and adored them. ‘They made me feel a mixture of shame and awe. There's a quality of legend about freaks. Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle. Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life.’ (Diane Arbus)
She gave more about her subjects than for her pictures. Because Arbus thought the subject was more interesting than her pictures. She was not afraid to get to know them and they felt comfortable around her. Unfortunately Arbus was often criticized as uncompassionate.
Jeannette Walls, the author of the memoir, The Glass Castle, was raised by parents whose relentless nonconformity and radical ideals were both positive and negative aspects to their wellbeing. Their names were Rex and Rosemary Walls, and they were the parents of four children. While the kids were still young, the family moved from town to town, camping in the wilderness and sleeping in the car, and sometimes even had a small place to stay. Rose Mary, who was both an artist and an author, identified herself as an “excitement addict”. As a mother who despised the responsibility of caring for her family, Rose Mary preferred making a painting that will last forever over making meals for her hungry children. Rex was an alcoholic who, when sober, was a charming and intelligent man that educated his children through geology, physics, mathematics, and how to live life fearlessly.
In Margaret Atwood’s “Cat’s Eye,” Atwood tells the story of a Canadian artist, Elaine Risley. While back in Toronto for an art show, Elaine reflects on the pain of her childhood, and how it has impacted the rest of her life. Atwood relies on the motif of physical structure to illuminate the lack of emotional and personal structure Elaine experiences in her youth - which ultimately resurface as low self-image, as well as the toxic relationships she engages in as an adolescent and adult. Atwood calls on the ideas of renovation, acknowledging the chance for closure a middle-aged Elaine experiences while in Toronto.
Naomi’s childhood, a terrible and brutal struggle for such a young delicate flower, yields to a blossoming adulthood of understanding and compassion. Although her wounds will never fully heal, Naomi has come to terms with her mother’s absence and her family’s silence. While Stephen does not adapt at all, and instead runs from his problems, Naomi allows herself to become immersed in the flood of her problems. Naomi Nakane spends the early years of her life trying to determine where in the confusion she will take her stand in the battle between verbal communication and silent acceptance, only to find that she has no choice and fate has decided that she will remain silent, longing to speak.
...family that she grew up in was such a negative environment. It is very possible that she will grow up to be an art teacher. One might think this because she looked up to her art teacher so much and admired her; Ellen’s mind is full of creativity and ideas. When Ellen’s school found out that her dad was abusive to her they put her up at her art teacher’s house. Ellen says “I came a long way to get here but when you think about it really hard you will see that old Starletta came even farther… And all this time I thought I had the hardest row to hoe” Like Ellen did, it is important for everyone to look back into their life and see what they have learned. Doing so cannot change ones past but only add to their future. Ellen will always carry the horrors of her childhood with her but by using all of her assets that she gained throughout the book her future can be enriched.
More than likely, someone has walked in a public area and has seen somebody that does not look “normal.” How did they react once that person was seen? Did the person continuously stare? Point? Laugh? What did they call them? Most people call them freaks. That is the scientific definition for someone that may have a physical abnormality. These so-called freaks make up the storyline of the fourth season of the popular TV series: American Horror Story, Freak Show. Freak Show is set in Jupiter, Florida, and shows the desperate journey of survival from the dying breed of carnies in 1952. This show consists of diversity in gender roles that are discriminated and forced to be outcasts in society. Major baggage, insecurity, and many ironic situations
Once discussed as objects of exoticism, empathy, and fear, the discourse about freaks in contemporary society remains the same, but we now have different spaces in which freak culture is discussed in.
Additionally, she stresses that the values of her childhood helped her to develop respect for different people. Her father influenced her a lot to feel comfortable just the way she is around her hometown; ...
Allison has had a bitter past full of moments which have scarred her personality. She uses these and writes about the world that few are willing to admit exists. Many find refuge behind their gregarious nature and take comfort in religion or other bodies. However, that does not change the facts of what the world is and how it got there. Allison exposes her audience to these facts, and in the process, she shares her own view.
In the early 1940’s Marie was born into a small tight knit family living in a small rural Kentucky town. Marie is now in her seventies and has led a very interesting life traveling the country, raising four children, and shaping her chosen profession. Our interview sessions were conducted over a period of time, as Marie is very active and has little “free time” to spare.
When first approaching this work, one feels immediately attracted to its sense of wonder and awe. The bright colors used in the sun draws a viewer in, but the astonishment, fascination, and emotion depicted in the expression on the young woman keeps them intrigued in the painting. It reaches out to those who have worked hard in their life and who look forward to a better future. Even a small event such as a song of a lark gives them hope that there will be a better tomorrow, a thought that can be seen though the countenance by this girl. Although just a collection of oils on a canvas, she is someone who reaches out to people and inspires them to appreciate the small things that, even if only for a short moment, can make the road ahead seem brighter.
What we see is not always what is true. While watching the film, the audience is captivated by the “archival footage” shown while Polley’s family members and friends recall what kind of person her mother, Diane, was. Initially, we as the audience do not question the footage...
...o avoid disbelief from her audience. She was the first woman who dared to tell her experience of enslavement and how she was sexuallyabused.
Indeed, Louise Mallard and Kate Chopin’s lives are very similar and ironic. Louise’s life began once she came to the realization that she could live for herself. During this “hour” she felt true joy and freedom, but her life ended abruptly as her husband walked through the door. Like Mrs. Mallard, Chopin’s writing career began once her husband died. She wrote a few collections of short stories, but when she began expressing her feminist views, the critics walked through the door and her life as a writer was over.
It was a dark, menacing night as she stood there in the shadows. Waiting for the finale of the show that was playing, she glanced toward the exit through which people would soon be leaving. The rich, as patrons of the theatre house, promised her a salary at least for today. Her tattered clothes revealed the effects of personal destitution; the emaciated frame, that presently existed, harked back upon a body she must have once possessed. Driven by poverty to the realms of "painted cohorts," she makes up her face daily, distinguishing her life from the respected (264). She is an outcast, a leper, a member of the marginalized in society; she envelops the most degraded of positions and sins against her body in order to survive. As she looks up, her eyes reflect a different kind of light, a glimmer of beauty that has not yet faded despite her present conditions. She was, at one time, a "virtuous" woman, most likely scorned by a dishonest love. Finding no comfort or pity for her prior mistakes, she must turn to the streets and embrace the inevitable - the dishonor and shame from her previous engagement will follow her unto death. Shunned from society she becomes the woman who sells herself for money and sadly finds no love. She is the abandoned, the betrayed, and the lost, embarrassed girl; she is "of the painted cohorts," the female prostitute of the streets (264).
Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality were dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had. In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient women, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty emotionless shell. In men’s eyes this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.