dc.description.abstract | In the beginning of the article the role of a “decisive moment” and Barthes’ punctum in
photography is pointed out. Artistic pictures taken by Diane Arbus and Tereza Vlčková
show how similarity and difference of twins are ambiguously seen by “normal” people. The
interpretation of their works, however, stresses that the visible similarity, causing possible
problems with individual identity, is essentially apparent, while the fear of a “strange”
phenomenon of freaky “same people” reveals the problem of an uncertain, timid personal
identity. An ambiguous attitude to identity and difference may be overcome by the aesthetic
experience of a photographic work and its punctum, which is the foundation of artistic identity
of photography and which opens the universal, philosophical reflection on the essence of
identity itself. | en |