Vivian Maier

Went to the Vivian Maier exhibit yesterday at the Chicago Cultural Center. Fascinating back story. I tried, as I typically do, select the one photograph that had the greatest emotional impact for me. Her exhibit, as was Sandro Miller's, was tough. Lots of emotionally moving photos and many with high visual impact. Below is the one I selected. I don't beleive it was titled - many were not. As soon as I saw it, I couldn't stop looking at it. After moving along and getting to the end, I went back for another couple of minutes. I was immediately reminded of Edward Weston's "Nude." The subject's positioning is not the same but they had, for me, the same emotional impact. The abstractness. The form. The absence of face. It all made me wonder, think and make up backstories. I looked his stains and position and all I could think about the crappy lot in life he probably had. Likely dead by now (shot in 1953) but wondered about his life and how, but for the grace of God, go I. Why him and not me?

for comparision, Weston's "Nude":