Genius 5

Genius 5 – Questions

1.Who said “ The camera gave me the license to strip away what you want people to know about you, to reveal what you can’t help people knowing about you”, and when was it said?
This quotation was said by Diane Arbus whilst in New York in the 1960's

2. Do photographers tend to prey on vulnerable people?


3. Who is Colin Wood?
He is the child in the famous Diane Abrus image "Child with Toy Hand Grenade" he was just simply playing in central park, New York one afternoon in 1962 and caught the attention of Arbus who took many photographs but decided to use this one.

4. Why do you think Diane Arbus committed suicide?
Arbus had lived a very different life to the "norm" and was perhaps not used to being out of this almost fantasy world were people were different and everything was extreme, so when she finally did step out of this world, it became too much for her and she was not used to it.

5. Why and how did Larry Clark shoot “Tulsa”?
He took the photographs for the book as if he was in the book himself he lived the same lives as his subjects, he took drugs with them and also slept with them as if he were part of this extreme and dangerous collection of people making his work greatly realistic.

6. Try to explain the concept of “confessional photography”, and what is the “impolite genre”?

Confessional photography: A link could be made here between this genre and religion as the photographs taken in this way show the truth within a photograph. Often the photos are quite intimate and bare all to the audience.

Impolite Genre: This is photographs that are taken with a quite a brutal subject matter and quite often be disturbing, making them hard for the viewer to look at.

7. What will Araki not photograph, and why?
He documents his life constantly but will choose what he wants to photograph and will only photograph things he would like to remember.

8. What is the premise of Postmodernism?
We are now living in a society where we are so easily influenced by the media that we no longer have much control over our actions and choices, we are fed other people's narratives and ideas.