I find it poignant and sentimental, the story of how Vivian’s work was discovered after her death. Very few people who read about it would be failed to be moved. Her work discovered in a footlocker had never been viewed by anyone during her life time. Her work is a wonderful repertoire of street photography during the 50s and 60s. I loved how she captured a wide gamut of street scenes – the rich and poor, the old and young, the maids, the workers, the families, the bums – the entire scale of emotion from joy to grief.
A large part of here work has still not been displayed. I read somewhere that there is a huge number of negatives that still remain undeveloped. What I find interesting is how her un-trained eye naturally captured these street images and these images are beautifully composed.
The 50s and 60s have always been an era that appeal to me and I love the work of photographers who were active during that time and so Vivian’s portfolio comprise for me a series of compelling documentary style images. For this particular review, I am not focusing on her street photography but on the series of self portraits that she shot on her journey. I am reminded of Angiers Rosswell’s chapter “Self Portrait – No Face” from “Train Your Gaze”. Vivian took self portraits in a variety of ways, from reflections in mirrors to reflections on shiny objects, her distinctive profile with the hat and the man's coat caught on film. Often wonderfully composed with layers upon layers, sometimes with humor sometimes brooding but never boring or uninteresting.
A case in point, this image:
Vivian's shadow reflected on the ground, her profile distinct thanks to the hat she used to wear and layered with in the shadow another self-portrait, this time reflected in the shiny sphere.
Another favorite of mine. I think this one is absolutely outstanding. Another wonderful example of what I mean when write about layers within layers.
Another one, a mirror in what I think is one of those long diners that used to be so popular in the 50s and 60s.
She continued with taking self portraits till much later in life and while the format changed (from square to the more common 3 x 2 formats of today), she never lost her unerring eye for wonderful compositions.
The more I look at her portfolio of self-portraits, the more I am inspired. I rather like the idea of taking self portraits in this documentary style as opposed to in the studio under contrived conditions. When I wrote about Angiers Rosswell's chapter about self portraits, I found myself uncomfortable with the idea of taking self portraits and since then have been reflecting on why. The only clarity I have is the continued belief that it's fear, fear of what I will see and my unwillingness to confront or accept a reality which could come out differently (negatively) from what I think it should be.