Entry 6 – Memory in Photography

The subject of today’s lecture was Memory. Memory, put it simply, is something one sensed and remembered. As expected, here we are talking about the memory of sight.

When Duane Michals’s This Photograph is My Proof came up from my instructor’s presentation, I was somewhat puzzled. If the theme of this photograph is memory, then this image certainly represents the visual memory of the person who took the photograph and not Michals’s, who himself was in the picture. Unless this was a self-timer photograph in which Michals’s memory of that moment was later constructed by the sight of this image.

My thoughts on the subject of documenting memory led me to a recollection of a documentary trailer I saw which discussed about a street photographer – Vivian Maier. Perhaps you have heard the story of a 1950’s nanny’s secret interest in photography surfaced when her life’s work of negatives was discovered after her death. That nanny was Vivian Maier.

In 2007, John Maloof, a Chicago real estate agent and historical hobbyist, bought a box of undeveloped negative films at his local auction house. As John began to develop this unknown photographer’s photographs, many professionals suggested that he might be uncovering the works of the most important street photographer of the 20^th century; therefore, he set out the journey to Finding Vivian Maier.

Maier was extremely reserved, private, and considerably mysterious, therefore, we do not know much about her. However, through her photographs, we now are able to observe a part of her memory that was hidden but has remained. For me, looking at Maier’s photographs is as if I traveled back in time and was seeing the common happenings of Chicago through her eyes.

References

Maier, V., (n.d.) Portfolios [photographs]

  Retrieved from URL (http://www.vivianmaier.com/gallery/street-1/)

Nessy, M., (2013) Found at Auction: The Unseen Photographs of a Legend that never Was

  Retrived from February 27, 2014, from http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/02/18/found-at-auction-the-unseen-photographs-of-a-legend-that-never-was/

Vivian Maier. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. 

  Retrived from February 27, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier

VivianMaierFilm. (2013, February 15). Finding Vivian Maier – Official Movie Trailer [Video]

  Retrieved From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o2nBhQ67Zc