Diane Arbus
[Photographer, b. 1923, New York, d. 1971, New York.]
Choosing a project can be ironic. Everybody’s got irony. You can’t avoid it. It’s in the structure, the detail, the significance... What I mean is, I would never choose a subject for what it means to me. I choose a subject and then what I feel about it, what it means, begins to unfold.
The Chinese have a theory that you pass through boredom into fascination and I think it’s true. I would never choose a subject for what it means to me or what I think about it. You've just got to choose a subject—and what you feel about it, what it means, begins to unfold if you just plain choose a subject and do it enough.
