And while I know that some people will be turned off, even repulsed by this final phase of Arbus' work, I strongly disagree with the reviewer from Chico, CA in saying that it would have been better if this work has not been published. This work is not pretty, and it is not candy-coated, but it should be, and thankfully has been, published. Real life is not always pretty, and we each have our own concepts of such ideals. If you are uncomfortable with other's perspectives on beauty and reality, close the book or sell it to someone else. But do not impose your censorship on me.
Arbus' "untitled" work is very similar to her work with couples... it gives power to the powerless, disarms the authoritative. Look at her images of couples in the 50s and 60s... the Men (those in a power position of a relationship) are disconnected, almost bored by the process, while the Women hold your gaze defiantly, challenging the viewer.... menacing. Not to be sexually stereotyped, the images of Mothers and Sons.... the dominant Mothers becoming the dispassionate party while the Son engages you. So too are these untitled images of the "mentally challenged", the handicapped, the children and young adults with Down's Syndrome in the images. They are living in an era where they are shunned and exiled to mental institutions.... but these images show us that they are not the weak and powerless who should be pitied.
In Arbus' earlier images, the power-base in the relationship of people shown set up the dichotomy. In these images, the defiant gazes come from those WE, the *viewer* choose to ignore and treat with indifference.