GIRL WALKING ON A DIRT ROAD

BETTY HAS THIS PECULIAR TRADITION.

THAT WHEN THE CHRISTMAS TIME  ARRIVES, SHE MAKES PRESENTS. 

TO HERSELF.

A TRADITION BORN AND ROOTED IN THE YEARS WHEN SHE WAS THE ONE PERSON TO WITNESS HER DECORATED TREE, ON CHRISTMAS EVE, AND THERE WAS NOBODY TO RECEIVE PRESENTS FROM HER, OR GIVE.

EXCEPT HERSELF.

BACK THEN, IT WAS JUST A CLEVER MANOEUVRE NECESSARY TO EMOTIONAL SURVIVAL.

NOW, WHEN SHE'S LUCKY TO SAY SHE HAS MULTIPLE PRESENT-RECEIVERS TO HER DISPOSAL, EVERY YEAR, SHE STILL REMAINS METICULOUS IN UPHOLDING THIS PRIVATE RITE.

NOT TO FORGET THOSE PAST WINTERS, WHEN HER OWN TWO SHOULDERS WERE THE SINGLE ONES SHE COULD CONSIDER LEANING ON.  

IT IS A REWARD. FOR HAVING BEEN THE ONLY ONE ALWAYS CLOSE. 

TO HERSELF.

[photo: Diane Arbus - A Woman With Her Baby Monkey - '71]

SO, THIS YEAR, SHE TOOK HERSELF TO ONE OF HER FAVORITE PLACES IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD: 
THE PHOTOGRAPHY MUSEUM OF AMSTERDAM.

THE FOAM.

WHERE SHE SAW AN ALL-ROUND MESMERIZING, HUGE, SOLO EXHIBITION OF DIANE ARBUS' UNSETTLING PHOTOGRAPHY.

AND IT HAS BEEN, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE STRONGEST, MOST HYPNOTIC, SHOT OF INSPIRATION SHE INHALED IN THE WHOLE OF YEAR 12.

[photo: Diane Arbus - Bishop By The Sea - '64]

[photo: Diane Arbus - Woman On A Street With Her Eyes Closed]

 [photo: Diane Arbus - A Young Waitress At A Nudist Camp - '63]

THE PICTURES ARE NOT BIG. 

THE SPACE IS ENCLOSED, CARESSING LOW LIGHTS.

YOU GLIDE THROUGH THE ROOMS IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF 

SUSPENDED STILLNESS.
BETWEEN CURIOSITY AND COMPASSION.

 

YOU BECOME A VOYEUR, YOU WITNESS 

A DAZZLING SHOWCASE OF STOLEN INTIMACY AND SHADED SPIRITS.

YOU EXPERIENCE THE EYE OF A WOMAN FASCINATED BY FLAW AND DAYDREAM. AN ARTIST WHO SPENT HER LIFE CREATING IMAGES OF IMPERFECTION, LIMITATION, OUTLANDISHNESS AND SHE DID IT WITH THE CARE AND WARMTH OF A MOTHER.

LIKE THE ALMOST-CASUAL SNAPSHOT WHERE A JEWISH GIANT, WHO BARELY FITS IN THE ROOM, BENT, IS CAUGHT IN A FAMILY MOMENT WITH HIS NORMAL-SIZED MAMA AND PAPA. IF YOU LOOK LONG ENOUGH, WHAT YOU REALLY SEE IN THAT NOT-SO-VAGUELY GROTESQUE IMAGE IS THAT, TO YOU, THE SIGHT OF THE OVERSIZED HUMAN MAY BE DISTURBING. 

BUT TO HIS PARENTS,  HE IS A PERSON, NOT A GIANT, AND HIS MUM LOOKS LIKE SHE'S WAY MORE CONCERNED WITH WEATHER HE'S NOT GONNA CATCH A COLD IN THEM SHORT SLEEVES, RATHER THAN WITH THE WAY HE LOOKS.

[photo: Diane Arbus - A Jewish Giant At Home With His Parents]

SHE IS FASCINATED BY WOMEN, GIRLS, YOUNG PEOPLE, BY FACES, MASKS, TRANSVESTITES, CREATURES LIVING IN THE GREY AREAS BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL LIFESTYLES, PEOPLE STRUGGLING TO FIND THEIR IDENTITY, A HOME.

EVERY GAZE THAT HIT DIANE'S LENS EXPRESSES A TENSION, A LONGING TOWARD BEING SOMEONE ELSE, SOMEWHERE ELSE, SOME OTHER TIME. 
SHE FINDS DREAMS AND TENDERNESS IN THE SIMPLEST OF SQUALORS, LIKE THE LOVING EMBRACE IN Couple Under A Paper Lantern, OR THE PLAYFULNESS OF THE Dominatrix With Her Client SERIES, THE Albino Sword Swallower At A Carnival, THE Girl Watching a Soap Bubble.

ALL HER FACES EXPRESS A SORT OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN DESIRE, AS IF ENCHANTED IN TIME, CAPTURED WITH A SIMPLICITY THAT MAKES EVERY IMAGE TIMELESS, ABSOLUTE. TRANSFORMING HARD FACTS OF THE HUMAN SOUL INTO A UNIQUE KIND OF ENIGMATIC, RAW, POETRY.

[photo: Diane Arbus - Transvestite With A Torn Stocking]

[photo: Diane Arbus - Topless Dancer In Her Dressing Room]

[photo: Diane Arbus - A Woman In A Bird Mask]























BUT, IN THIS WHOLE RICHNESS OF MASTERFUL PHOTOGRAPHY, THE ONE IMAGE WHICH STUCK TO BETTY THE MOST, ONCE SHE RELUCTANTLY WALKED OUT OF THE MUSEUM, IS PERHAPS NOT ONE OF DIANE'S MOST FAMOUS.

IT'S AN EARLY SHOT, PRIVATE, ALMOST ACCIDENTAL.
IT'S NOT YET IN HER SIGNATURE SQUARE FORMAT, 
IT'S NOT YET SO MASTERFULLY COMPOSED NOR CONSCIOUS.
IT'S A SELF-PORTRAIT THAT BELONGS TO A SERIES SHE DID TO SEND HER NEWLYWED HUSBAND, WHO WAS THEN A SOLDIER AT WAR.
A PHOTO TAKEN BY A BARELY PREGNANT GIRL WHO MUST HAVE FEARED HER LOVER MAY NOT LIVE TO EVEN RECEIVE THIS PICTURE.

A YOUNG BRIDE WHO COULD HAVE NOT POSSIBLY HAD THE FAINTEST CLUE OF WHO SHE WOULD BECOME, ONE DAY, IN THE LANDSCAPE OF FINEST WORLD ART. AND YET, IF YOU LOOK CLOSE, YOU CAN ALREADY SEE IT ALL.

  [photo: Diane Arbus - Self-Portrait Pregnant - '45]

THE EXHIBITION AT THE FOAM IS OPEN FOR ANOTHER THREE DAYS.
IF YOU ARE ANYWHERE NEAR AMSTERDAM OR CAN GET YOURSELF THERE THIS WEEKEND, BETTY VERY WARMLY SUGGESTS YOU DO SO.
OTHERWISE, YOU WILL HAVE MISSED 
QUITE SOMETHING.

CLICK THIS LINK TO GET DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE FOAM WEBPAGE AND FIND OUT ALL THE DETAILS OF THE EXHIBITION