21/09/20 - The American photographer still amazes us.  This time, from the exhibition "Vivian Maier: The Color Work", at FOLA, we choose her self-portraits.

We have already seen here, and in other exhibitions, her shots of Chicago's and New York's architecture, as of the locals, focusing on the poor and the elderly. Today we'll talk about two of her 'selfies'. In both of them we admire her skill for composition and her very particular sense of humor.  

In the first of the portraits, the one with the dog, we guess her presence from the shadow projected on the street and wall. Maybe it was not her intention to photograph her shadow, but when reaching for the animal, she must have been surprised by it and decided to include it. According to Anne Morin, who has been studying the archives of the Maloof Collection since 2010, with Maier's 150.000 negatives,  the self-portraits and the shadows represent more than a quarter of all her photos. 

Self-portrait, by Vivian Maier, 

Chicago / Color Photography

In the second “selfie” on display, Vivian appears as a reflection on a polished surface with lights around her, much like an instagram filter. Through this spontaneous shot we get to see the situations that surrounded her and that she took for her advantage. These shots are so skillful that through them we are allowed a glimpse to her life and home.

Self-portrait, by Vivian Maier

Chicago, August 1976, Color Photography

There's also a photo of 1956, entitled Self-Portrait, in which we see her posing, slightly turned, with the hands on her back. Although we don't know who took this photo, it's the perfect shot to physically meet Vivian Maier (1926 -2009), this woman who spent all her life in anonymity, guarding her privacy, till her archives were accidentally found in a warehouse. The rent was long overdue and all its contents went for auction. That's how her negatives were rescued from oblivion and Maier had the chance to change her life posthumously. 

Self-portrait, by Vivian Maier (1956)

Color Photography