What Diane Arbus Wasn’t Doing
(Part II)
And How She Wasn’t Doing It

Whatever strategies Diane Arbus employed as a photographer—and there were many, ranging from approach, to choice of subject and equipment—were designed to liberate her from the need to be in control of the picture. She deliberately subordinated herself to meticulously contrived techniques and to the vagaries of happenstance, trusting the pictures to be more insightful than she believed herself (or anyone else) to be.

By this means, by trusting in the innate power and authority of the medium, she enabled her photographs to discover and record that which she had never imagined.

What was shocking, unique, and socially explosive about her work was that she had devised a straightforward technical and aesthetic approach to image creation that appeared, on the surface, to proclaim itself to be the product of simple objectivity. It was, however, and continues to be, utterly different from and even opposed to the prevailing values of the art establishment.

This conversation is organized by Matthieu Humery, curator of the exhibition Constellation dedicated to Diane Arbus.
 

Practical Info: 
Date: Saturday, July 8 
Schedule: 11:30 a.m.
Dur­a­tion: About 1 hour
Place: Le Magasin Électrique
Price: Free, booking required
Note: The conversation will be held in English.

SOLD OUT


The first part of the conversation will take place on July 6 at the Théâtre Antique, as part of the Rencontres d'Arles festival.

Neil Selkirk 

Neil Selkirk is a photographer and filmmaker.
Shortly after he arrived in New York from London in 1970, he met Diane Arbus.
He took her master class and, after her death, wound up being the only person ever authorized to make posthumous prints of her work.
As a photographer, he has worked for virtually all the major US magazines. He has specialized in the creation of new publications, having been involved with the first issues and covers of Wired, Spy, Colors, Paper, and Vue.
He has published four books of photographs: 1000 on 42nd Street (2000), See No Evil (2006), Lobbyists (2007), and Certain Women (2015).
His photographs are in major US collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 
 

Darius Himes

Based in New York City, Darius Himes oversees a global team as the International Head of Photographs for Christie’s. Prior to joining Christie’s, Himes was director of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco from 2011 to 2014. In 2007, he co-founded Radius Books, a non-profit publisher of books on photography and the visual arts. A lecturer, writer, and contributor to various journals and publications, his 3rd edition of Publish Your Photography Book, co-authored with Mary Virginia Swanson, was just released this May 2023.