Bookery: My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden On Diane Arbus' Freaks And Dancing With Them
Aug 21, 2007
Words by Sean Moeller
Illustration by Catherine Maldonado
Near the very end of this reading, you'll stop yourself and strangely admire the simplicities of the world for all of the hardships they've been known to bring. You'll admire all of the worries that we find problematic and you'll consider them lesser. You'll be melted by the soft words of My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden. You'll be broken down by the inescapable humanity and poignancy in the words from Diane Arbus' book of photos. She's quoted as saying that, "A photograph's a secret about a secret," and was prominently known as a shooter of freaks and the ignored or dismissed from society. She said, "Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats." That's an easy quote - taken from a Wikipedia page - but the rendering of her gentle and passionate words, read by one of the gentlest and exhilarating voices in indie rock music, is quite enough of a prod to make you long for anything and everything this fascinating woman ever touched. Feel the same way about Worden, who is embarking on a European tour in September and a late fall U.S. tour, still behind the magical Bring Me The Workhorse and a remix album Tear It Down, both on Asthmatic Kitty. - Sean Moeller
"The reading is from a Diane Arbus photography book. (Might have heard of her from the recent movie "Fur" -- Nicole Kidman played her character. I haven't been brave enough to see the movie yet. Too attached to the original Diane...) Anyway, Diane's photographs are incredible and she often lectured at colleges 'n such, so some of these paragraphs were taken from cassette tapes of her lectures and were collected as an introduction to one of her photography books. I just find her completely profound and articulate. She understood the human condition and the beauty of people in this really wonderful way. I could hardly read some of that stuff without crying. The last story gets me every time. It is so embracing of life. It speaks of accepting ourselves and being at peace, without ego or fear of rejection, and her telling of the story is so loving. Yeah for Diane and for art to bring us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the universe!" - Shara Worden
"My Brightest Diamond Official Site":http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com
"Asthmatic Kitty Records":http://www.asthmatickitty.com
