- Exhibit Reveals Hidden Talent of Street Photographer Vivian Maier
- Exhibition: Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows
- The Nanny Diaries; Sundance Selects Think “Finding Vivian Maier” is Worth a Thousand Words
- Vivian Maier: A life's lost work seen for first time (BBC News)
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| Some of Vivian Maiers photographs from New York City and Chicago |
The last heading above was taken from a BBC News article written by Katie Beck posted in January of 2011. John Maloof, the young real estate agent from Chicago who acquired hundreds of thousands of her negatives was quoted in this article saying:
"She was using photography to fill in a void emotionally, perhaps to satisfy herself," Mr Maloof said. "The work has a life of its own. People want to see it."
These articles [and headings] portray Maiers and her work as lost and found; a solitary woman who happened to photograph on-the-side; her work, a hobby for her days off or for when she was taking the kids out on a field trip. If we take another look at the BBC article heading, A Life's Lost Work Seen For The First Time, we must ask ourselves this:
If Vivian Maier was ahead of the trend in Camera models (as mentioned by the researcher and lecturer Pamela Bannos) were these photos really seen for the first time only a few years ago when purchased at an auction?
Her work is incredibly stylized and as one listens to Pamela Bannos talk of the effort put into many of the shots, the set-up, the editing, etc., one begins to wonder whether she was a nanny who had a hobby of photography or a photographer that used nannying to financially fuel her work.
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| What were Maiers' motives for capturing this intimate scene and how was she able to shoot this work? |
The heading referring to her work as the "Nanny Diaries" particularly disturbs me as it reduces her life and work to her role and identity as a nanny.
Does the public want to uncover "the mystery of Vivian Maier" and her body of work? Or, do we want sit cross-legged on the carpet in order to hear a story told of a hardworking nanny who secretly took hundreds of thousands of photos in order to "fill an emotional void"?
Does the public want to uncover "the mystery of Vivian Maier" and her body of work? Or, do we want sit cross-legged on the carpet in order to hear a story told of a hardworking nanny who secretly took hundreds of thousands of photos in order to "fill an emotional void"?
Bonos did mention Vivian's complex techniques to make the shots. As some people portrayed her, I didn't think she was just some crazy nanny with a camera. It's a shame media has to project these shallow headlines and not actual focus on the quality of her work.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd how all of these headlines play with the idea of finding and discovering the lost and hidden. It seems that no one really cared about owning her work until she was designated as important. It's bothersome how so many descriptions say that she is trying to fill in a void or help herself emotionally.
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