About two years ago I watched one of the most fascinating documentaries on photography I have ever seen: Finding Vivian Maier. It was the incredible story of an American nanny with the passion for street photography whose magnificent photographs were found by chance longtime after her death, revealing to the world the incredible talent of this woman.
Many people believe that Vivian Maier was not just an amateur photographer but wherever the truth is, it is impossible not to be captivated by her incredible portraits shot mainly in the streets of New York and Chicago starting from the 1950s and for over fifty years, but also in France and other places she traveled to, and the huge amounts of self-portraits.
Her work passed totally under silence although she left an archive of more than 150,000 negatives, plus footage, recordings, notes and different kinds of papers. All these the materials were confiscated in 2007 due to unpaid rent and then discovered by the young John Maloof at an auction in Chicago.
Since then her work reached a large amount of people, touching their souls with her amazing photographs and her love for weird situations. When I saw the documentary, more than her unusual history and eccentric nature, I fell in love with the irony and weirdness of her pictures and I felt a little envious of those in the States who could see her work for real as John Maloof decided to let her work be known all over the country.
But Vivian Maier’s work arrived to Europe, more specifically to Italy and this last September I finally had the chance to see her exhibit in Nuoro at the MAN Museum. It was an incredible experience and I didn’t mind leaving the seaside for a couple of hours and driving to Nuoro to see the first Vivian Maier exhibit in Italy (it was also the occasion, on the way back, to go to the beach to the famous and breathtaking Arbatax red rocks).
The collection shown at the MAN is made of 120 photographs among the most important in John Maloof’s archive (both street portraits and self-portraits) , shot between the early years of the 50’s and the end of the 60’s, a series of Super 8 films and a selection of color photographs taken from the middle of the 60s.
I was so happy that I could visit this intense and exciting exhibit even if I found out that in November it will leave Nuoro (last day is the 18th of October) after a great success in terms of visitors and interest from all over Italy, to reach Milan, more specifically the Fondazione Forma per la Fotografia, from the 19th of November to the 31st of January 2016.
For my visit I wore a Cos white tee, Please coral pants, New Balance sneakers and a beautiful handmade headband from Madame Ilary (it was an old shirt from Zara in its past life!).
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