When an exhibition of works is announced by a photographer as influential as Diane Arbus, you would be forgiven for assuming that the work was on show in a major venue in New York or London, but you would be wrong.  

It’s exciting to hear that Arbus’ work is currently on show in the Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, a town in southwestern Scotland. Word quickly spread through Scottish arts and photography networks about this rare opportunity to see work from this iconic photographer in a local arts trust venue, through the ARTIST ROOMS program, a joint venture between the Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. 

Diane Arbus is one of the most influential photographers, whose work has had a profound impact on the world of photography. Her approach to photography was revolutionary, as she captured the lives of people across the social spectrum, from the margins of society, with honesty and empathy. Her images were not just portraits, but also an example of strong visual storytelling. Arbus’ unique approach to photography captured a raw and unfiltered glimpse into the lives of her subjects and the dynamics of their surroundings.

Arbus’ images often depict individuals who at the time were on the margins of society, including circus performers and transgender individuals. However, rather than portraying them as objects of curiosity or pity, she showed their humanity and individuality, challenging conventional societal norms and stereotypes. This quality is what has always drawn me to her work. I can feel the connection she had with her subjects almost leaping off the paper.

This was my first visit to The Gracefield; a category B listed building that hosts Gallery 1, while the purpose-built Gallery 2 building hosts further exhibition, arts, and crafting space along with a café. Upon entering the building, there was an instant feeling of community, and I was reminded of my time spent working at my own local community arts venue, from the handwritten chalkboard “what’s on” display, to the various rooms used for community arts projects throughout the year. The hallway directly outside the gallery features a timeline of Diane Arbus’ life, with key moments charted along the way, including her marriage to Allan Arbus in 1941, who gifted her with a camera, prompting enrollment in photography classes alongside photographer Berenice Abbott.

The gallery space itself was as fresh and minimalistic as any major exhibition venue I have been to. Track lighting placed considered illumination onto the prints, which were mounted inside white frames on white walls, to allow the work to have the space to communicate directly. Walking around the gallery and considering each print, I felt very fortunate to be in a quiet space allowing absorption and reflection. For the majority of my visit, I was the only person in the gallery space, which was an absolute luxury. I compared this visit to the time I saw Don McCullins exhibition in the Tate in Liverpool, when I felt a need to move on between images quite promptly due to the conveyor belt of admirers moving from image to image.

The exhibition spans Arbus’s full career, beginning with early works from the mid-1950s taken with a 35mm camera, to the distinctive square format she adopted from 1962, made famous through such iconic images as Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J. 1966. A highlight within the exhibition is the rare limited-edition portfolio, A Box of Ten Photographs 1969-71. These ten original prints produced by Arbus represented who she was as an artist and how she saw her work in the world, a legacy that became more solidified with her death by suicide in 1971.

ARTIST ROOMS is a touring collection of international modern and contemporary art, presenting solo exhibitions drawn from a national collection jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. ARTIST ROOMS gives young people the chance to get involved in creative projects, discover more about art and artists, and learn new skills. The ARTIST ROOMS program is an absolute gift to local communities, bringing major exhibitions to people who would otherwise not get to see them. There are so many barriers which separate who attend exhibitions and who do not, and geography is a huge factor in that. The act of bringing exhibitions to local communities makes the phrase “art is for everyone” closer to being truthful. I am a firm believer in the ability of the arts to transform communities and break down barriers, and this places importance on local arts initiatives.

Arbus’s extraordinary portraits will be on display in Gallery 2 until July 29, 2023. The exhibition at Gracefield follows its inaugural presentation at The Civic, Barnsley in Yorkshire. The exhibition will continue its tour north in Scotland to Shetland Museum and Archives, before returning to England to North Hertfordshire Museum, Hitchin, at the end of the year.

Lead image photograph of Diane Arbus around 1968 © Photo: Roz Kelly / Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images.

All images used with permission of The Estate of Diane Arbus.

It’s Milky Way season. From early spring through late summer our galaxy’s billions of stars arc across the night sky and it’s become a staple of astrophotography. The trend comes into the spotlight with the announcement this week by travel photography blog Capture the Atlas of its 6th annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year collection.

Published in late May each year – the peak time for photographing the Milky Way – 

– its aim is to inspire astrophotographers and others to capture and share the beauty of our galaxy. 

The 25 stunning Milky Way images it showcases come from 25 photographers from 16 countries. The final 25 images were selected by Dan Zafra, editor of Capture the Atlas, from over 3,000 entries. They include stunning images from unusual locations for astrophotography including Yemen, Madagascar, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Japan, Iran and Indonesia. 

The winning images also include plenty taken in classic astrophotography locations such as Namibia, Chile’s Atacama desert and New Zealand. 

Here are our favorite images from the Milky Way Photographer of the Year: 

1. ‘Night under the Baobab Trees’ by Steffi Lieberman 

One of the most notable winning images in this year’s competition was this one, above, taken using a Sony A7R III astro-nodified camera by photographer Steffi Lieberman in Madagascar, a location not normally associated with astrophotography. “This photo means a lot to me, and I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult it was to take it,” said Lieberman. “From the road conditions to the armed security guards protecting you while you take photos, everything about it was an adventure.” 

2. ‘South of Home’ by Lorenzo Ranieri Tenti

Namibia – a dream destination for astrophotographers after incredible foregrounds – featured heavily in the contest. “The panoramic photograph captures the breathtaking scene in the Gross Spitzkoppe Nature Reserve, where the southern Milky Way gracefully spans a remarkable formation of smooth granite boulders,” said Lorenzo Ranieri Tenti about the above image. “This area holds a unique charm, with Mount Spitzkoppe being the sole prominent feature for kilometers, majestically rising 700 meters above the endless savannah.” The photographer used a Sony A7S astro-modified camera. 

3. ‘The La Palma Astroexperience’ by Jakob Sahner

The Canary Islands are blessed with volcanic peaks that sit above the clouds, shielded from light pollution, as proven by this image, above, from the island of La Palma by Jakob Sahner. “La Palma and the Canary Islands are ideal for astrophotography due to the trade wind clouds that sit at around 1000 meters,” said Sakner who also used a Sony A7S astro-modified camera. “Being above these clouds makes it clear enough for capturing images, provided there is no haze or high cirrus clouds.” 

4. ‘The Night of Huayhuash’ by Jose D. Riquelme 

Jose D. Riquelme used a Sony A7 IV to capture Peru’s Huayhuash (pronounced “why-wash”), an Andes mountain range within the Cordillera Huayhuash Reserved Zone. “It’s home to stunning landscapes with mountains and lakes, offering unique opportunities to capture the Milky Way in all its splendor,” said Riquelme. “Night photography in this location is an unforgettable experience, as the altitude and clean air allow the stars to shine brightly.”

5. ‘Celestial Shield’ by Iván Ferrero

Ávila, Spain was the location for Iván Ferrero’s image of Aunqueospese, a 14th-century Gothic castle. “I embarked on a two-and-a-half-hour drive … the rough dirt road forced me to abandon my car and trek for about thirty minutes,” said Ferrero, who used a Sony A7R III camera. “Once it got dark, I captured a panoramic shot of the ground before tracking the Milky Way as Orion took its position … I kept the tripod low to prevent blurring and ensure stability.” 

When the ‘Milky Way season’ takes place depends on your position on the planet. Large referring to the time of the year it’s possible to see the bright core of the Milky Way – located within the constellations Sagittarius about 25,800 light-years distant – it’s January-November in the Southern Hemisphere and February-October in the Northern Hemisphere. However, the best time to see and photograph the Milky Way is typically between May and June. 

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As a culture war around issues of trans and gender-non conforming identities rages on, an archival exhibition in Bethnal Green, east London, emphasises how queer communities the world over have been placed at the forefront of politics for decades, and played central roles in resistance movements.

Barbarella’s Kiss (until 11 June), at the curator-favourite non-profit space Auto Italia South East, surveys the work of the Bolivian artist and queer activist David Aruquipa Pérez, who has amassed a collection of photographs of his travesti friends (a Latin American-specific term for gender non-conforming people assigned male at birth) performing at carnivals from the 1960s to the 1980s. Many of them embody the character of the China Morena, a flamboyantly dressed feminine figure popular at Bolivian carnivals, and which Pérez asserts originated with trans communities.

“The parades are catwalks—the fashions dictate those in normal society and the China Morena are hugely influential,” Pérez said shortly before the show’s opening, for which he transformed into a China Morena, wearing a bright red dress, and performed a dance accompanied by a soundtrack of recordings from historic carnivals to “invoke his sisters both dead and alive”.

The exhibition takes its title from an incident—of which no photographic evidence exists—in which the travesti Barbarella kissed the Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer Suárez at a carnival in 1974. Humiliated and enraged, Banzer banned the travesti from performing and drove them underground. But in doing so, he also served to emphasise their subversive role in the wider resistance movement that would topple his military rule in 1978.

“Barbarella’s Kiss is a document of sexual and gender diverse people’s fight for fair and equitable inclusion with culture and society,” says Auto Italia’s director Edward Gillman. He relates the show’s themes to the ongoing fight for liberation among trans and gender-nonconforming people in the UK. “The exhibition evidences that gender diversity is rich and kaleidoscopic, and that the human experience encompasses a complex range of live gender experiences—more than the mainstream political-religious right in the UK would like us all to believe.”

Pérez, who co-curated the exhibition with the artist Aitor González, emphasises how central carnivals are to Bolivian society. “To be visible in the carnival is participate in society—everyone is watching you. And when your presence is banned, the mere act of gathering becomes one of resistance.”

The simultaneous repression and hyper-visibility so often faced by trans and queer people was addressed in a talk at the exhibition, for the launch event of Viscose—a fashion theory magazine that has dedicated its fourth issue to issues of transness in fashion. “Dressing is a public act,” says Viscose’s founder Jeppe Ugelvig, “and the images of the Chinas Morenas, as well as this current issue of the magazine, both underline how gender nonconforming people have long been at the forefront of politics,” he says, adding that one must always look to the fringes and undersides of society to properly observe how fashion and power interact.

Viscose’s Trans issue contains a number of historic, archive articles that show, among other things, how attitudes towards gender identity have in some ways become more, not less, reactionary over time. It reminds us that the roads to freedom, both social and legal, are not always linear, nor are they geographically siloed. But while it is a troubling fact that something so innocuous as a garment can still cleave a nation’s politics, there is power too in remembering that the act of wearing a dress can help bring down a dictatorship.