American photographer Diane Arbus was a pioneer of documentary photography, having over the course of her career created intimate and raw images capturing the full spectrum of everyday culture in postwar America. Her artworks are notable for their candor and honesty, often featuring intimately posed subjects inside their routine surroundings or private spaces. She was particularly interested in groups living on the fringes of society, including drag performers, carnival entertainers, and the elderly. Arbus once described her subjects as having been “born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life.”

–Ben Rybczynski, from the Glenstone Field Guide