A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street 1966

Diane Arbus captured "A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street" in a photograph. The composition immediately draws us to the subject’s face, a study in contrasts. The hard lines of the curlers and cigarette juxtapose the soft, almost vulnerable expression. Arbus plays with societal expectations of beauty and gender presentation. The subject’s exaggerated features, like the drawn-on eyebrows and long fingernails, alongside the mundane curlers, create a deliberate sense of unease and curiosity. Arbus uses photography to question conventional notions of identity, challenging viewers to confront their own assumptions and destabilizing fixed meanings. The photograph thus functions as a site for exploring the complexities of self-representation and the performative nature of identity.