Puerto Rican Woman with a Beauty Mark 1969

This black and white photograph by Diane Arbus captures a woman with a beauty mark. What a face! I'm immediately struck by her eyes. They are intense and full of something - curiosity? sadness? – holding so many stories. I can imagine Diane Arbus circling her subject, feeling the weight of her camera, waiting, watching, and searching for the right moment to click. It's like when I'm in the studio, trying to capture the essence of something, layering colors and shapes until it feels just right. The woman’s beauty mark feels so intentional, a focal point. Maybe Arbus and the woman connected over this shared sense of performance, of making oneself seen, and yet also mysterious. Artists keep bouncing back to each other, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling. There are so many ways to be open to ambiguity and mystery and the multiple layers of meanings that photography and painting make possible.