I see her work as very human and compassionate. While many see her photos as exploitive or dark, I see a real connection with her subjects and a willingness and desire to show them as people rather than objects. There is a strong revulsion that many people experience when they observe something that's different or unpleasant to look at or think about. Arbus often makes us confront those feelings and asks us to deal with reality outside our normal space or sphere. Not every photo of hers is successful in this regard, but at least she was out there giving a "voice" to so many who were on the fringes of society due to their appearance, vocations, social situations and the like.
I don't care for all of her photos, but that's more on an artistic or compositional level rather than being dismissive of what she was trying to do. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Mark Cassino > > I guess I don't see Arbus's work as overly dark (though she certainly had > her dark images).
