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“We are the granddaughters of all the witches you were never able to burn.” - Unknown* ‪

Vivian Maier

A Chicago nanny who left behind a large, secret hoard of her pictures wasn’t discovered until 2011. A box filled with Maier’s negatives was discovered at a local thrift auction house in Chicago. She’s being hailed as one of the best street US street photographers of the 20th century

Maier left behind more than 100,000 images, in hundreds of boxes of negatives and undeveloped rolls of film, as well as some Super 8 home movie footage, audio tapes and trunks full of memorabilia.

An American of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction, Vivian bounced between Europe and the United States before coming back to New York City in 1951. Having picked up photography just two years earlier, she would comb the streets of the Big Apple refining her artistic craft. By 1956 Vivian left the East Coast for Chicago, where she’d spend most of the rest of her life working as a caregiver. 

Every now and than on Escape Kit I stumble upon not only amazing work but an amazing story behind it. This is one of them, Vivian Maier has absolutely stunning street photography and it might never seen the light of day if it wasn’t for chance. 

November Tests:

Ireland 26 - 23 Australia

Girls skating in the seventies.

Including Laura Thornhill, (mostly), Kim Cespedes, Robin Logan, Ellen-Oneal,