Diane Arbus Identical Twins

The above image is with out doubt one of the most famous sibling images of all time. Diane Arbus was famous for taking pictures of 'freaks', as she so graciously put it. Personally I really do like Arbus's work, there is a certain simplicity to it which purely focuses on the subject allowing the viewer to focus on who is being captured rather than how aesthetically pleasing the photograph is. Arbus is revolutionary in the fact that she photographed people who were subjected to taboo, like transvestites, dwarfs and nudists. Moreover I still feel that there is a sense of reservation from society towards many of these people so I can't even imagine how controversial such imagery would have been decades ago. 


The image of the identical twins was taken in 1967 and is an iconic image of that period. I read up about the image and about the twins father's response to it. He said that the picture Arbus took of the twins shares no resemblance to them on a personal level. They look ghostly as they stare into the camera, stood side by side connected at the shoulder. Their untelling gaze is perhaps what further emphasizes a sense of eeriness within the image which has inspired a sense of creepiness through out young identical twins to even be used in films. Personally I find the expression on the girl on the left's face more interesting. It's somewhat pensive as if she is thinking about something, her expression even seems rather beyond her years. The girl on the right is giving a slight smile on the other hand, more expected of a child of their age. I think it is interesting to see how the girls have been positioned for this photograph. With their hands by their sides and standing side by side in fact so close to each other that their shoulders ally. Furthermore I think you can feel this sense of personal unity within the girls, as siblings and twins and even though their faces are perhaps vacant and giving nothing away on a personal level I feel their positioning relates a sense of union within their relationship.


"For me the subject of a picture is always more important than the picture. And more complicated" - Diane Arbus