His work often deals with themes such as death, corpses (and sometimes dismembered portions thereof), often featuring ornately decorated photographic models, including people with dwarfism, transgender and intersex persons, as well as people living with a range of physical features.

Witkin is often praised for presenting these figures in poses which celebrate and honor their physiques in an elevated, artistic manner.

Witkin spent his military service at Fort Hood, Texas, and was mostly in charge of Public Information and classified photos.

He attended Cooper Union in New York, where he studied sculpture, attaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974.

[4] Witkin claims that his vision and sensibility spring from an episode he witnessed as a young child, an automobile accident in front of his house in which a little girl was decapitated.

While walking down the hallway to the entrance of the building, we heard an incredible crash mixed with screaming and cries for help.

Because of the transgressive nature of the contents of his images, his works have been labelled exploitative and have sometimes shocked public opinion.

[1] Joel-Peter Witkin's photograph Sanitarium inspired the final presentation of Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2001 collection based on avian imagery, the walls of another box within the faux psychiatric ward collapsed to reveal a startling tableau vivant: a reclining, masked nude breathing through a tube and surrounded by fluttering moths.