Diane Arbus- "Identical twins"

Diane Arbus is post-war photographer born in 1923. She was known as a controversial and eccentric artist, mostly because of her choice of the models."... Diane Arubs who was most single-minded in pursuit of highly distinctive subject matter: freaks, deviant loners, swingers, transvestites and, later, residents of mental institutions."(Dyer, 2011). She killed herself at the age of 48. In this post i will look closer on her photography of twin girls called "Identical Twins".

Diane Arbus – Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1966

Many terms have been used to defines this famous image by Diane Arbus, including artistic, weird, eerie, or haunting. However, the photographer described it as "differentness in identicalness." Unlike most people, who “go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience,” the “freaks” that interested Diane Arbus “were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. (Clifford, n.d.). There are a lot of perspectives on this famous picture and what it means. Art and its form are always determined by the viewer. It is never the other way around, and the same stands for this image, in all it's uniqueness and magnificence. 

The photo maintains almost perfect symmetry. Two almost identical girls, dressed the same, with the same hairstyle stand against the wall. The photo has been cropped so that they are in the center and fill almost the entire photo. The girls look quite innocent, yet they cause anxiety and make the viewer feel uncomfortable.

Arbus managed to achieve this thanks to the details that she paid great attention to. This is due to their facial expressions. One girl is slightly smiling and has her eyes open, while the other has a slight grimace on her face and is squinting. These small differences, unnoticeable at first glance, are captured subconsciously and processed by our brain. This creates a feeling of dissonance in viewers of this photo.

This photo, like all other photographs taken by Arbus, shows difference and normalizes it. It may be a land of “freaks”, but within those pictures, even 70 years later, most New Yorkers will see a piece of themselves.(Revesz, 2016).
Although many people accused her of using her models, in my opinion, she tried to show that despite the differences, everyone is equal and the same. That no one is perfect and everyone has flaws, smaller or bigger. 

References

Clifford, B. (n.d.). Diane Arbus | MoMA. [online] The Museum of Modern Art. Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/208 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].

Dyer, G. (2011). An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus, by William Todd Schultz – review. The Observer. [online] 22 Oct. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/oct/23/arbus-emergency-slow-motion-schultz [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].

Revesz, R. (2016). The ‘freaks’ of old New York: Diane Arbus exhibition opens at the Met. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/the-freaks-of-old-new-york-diane-arbus-exhibition-opens-at-the-met-a7133566.html [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].