We’re itching to get inside Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s–1980s at the AGO this month. The new exhibition offers a rare glimpse at works by Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, Danny Lyon, Gordon Parks, Garry Winogrand, Kenneth Anger, Shirley Clarke, Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, and Marie Menken. In photographs and film, they turn an impassioned lens on the misfits of American society — the hustlers, hookers, bikers, junkies, homosexuals and eccentrics — all living on the edge of the status quo.

Photography by Ian Lefebvre

Photography by Ian Lefebvre

The misfit appeals because we each have been out of place at some point in our lives. It’s what we do with that experience that helps to shape who we become. Do we cower back and assimilate, or stand proud of who we are? This powerful exhibition probes these concerns, and offers up histories that diverge from the typical American dream narrative.

Cookie - Nan Goldin

Cookie – Nan Goldin

We’re especially looking forward to:

  • Robert Frank & Alfred Leslie’s homage to New York’s Beat scene in Pull My Daisy
  • Portrait of Jason (includes the first time a gay African-American man appears in a documentary feature)
  • The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (500 of Nan Goldin’s images set to music)
  • Over 170 snapshots taken by visitors to Casa Susanna — a safe haven for cross-dressers in the 1950s and 1960s
Photography by Ian Lefebvre

Photography by Ian Lefebvre

By defying cultural conventions, outsiders paved the way for all of us to live freer, richer lives. This exhibition runs March 12-May 29. Get your tickets now.

A Young Man and his Pregnant Wife in Washington Square Park - Diane Arbus

A Young Man and his Pregnant Wife in Washington Square Park – Diane Arbus