Tattooed Man at a Carnival 1970

Diane Arbus made this photograph, Tattooed Man at a Carnival, at an unknown date, with her camera. You can really see Arbus's hand in this print. The stark contrast, and the way the tattoos seem to almost merge with the man's skin, like a drawing on a page, or a memory. Look at the way the light catches his eyes, but also how the tattoos on his face are in shadow. The tattoos are like a second skin, a layer of storytelling etched onto his body. What stories do they tell? What's real and what's imagined? Arbus, like a painter, composes with light and shadow to create this intimate yet slightly unsettling portrait. I am reminded of Weegee's street photography, raw and unfiltered. But Arbus goes deeper, seeking something beyond the surface. Both artists show us a world that is both familiar and strange.