Finding Vivian Maier - 2013 || Did she want to be discovered?

Yesterday I reviewed a documentary that I had watched a few years ago, and it is interesting to notice a new perception about the story that already seemed sufficiently organized in my head. The film was "Finding Vivian Maier". And he tells the journey of a guy who happens to buy a lot of films developed at an auction, a huge box of films developed and saved, and when he comes across a multitude of intriguing and very high-quality photos, he ends up being curious about his author. , to that Vivian Maier, who practically had no record on the internet or anywhere else.

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After a long process to find any information about the unknown photographer he ends up discovering that it is a nanny, yes, a nanny who happened to take photos compulsively, how compulsively? Over 150,000 photos developed! And, pay attention, practically NEVER exposed any of her materials, all the photos she kept to herself, and only occasionally enlarged or showed them to someone. Little by little the documentary begins to become strange because it is clear that there is a dichotomy there, you feel an immense desire to see and show the incredible art of Vivian Maier, they are too incredible photos not to be recognized, but, in life, she never wanted to expose her work at that level. And the documentary producer himself, having acquired all the material of the reclusive and almost anonymous artist, was entitled to not only exhibit their works in exhibitions but to sell his material.

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The documentary revisits the life of Vivian, several people who have taken care of her as a nanny and share her memories, but throughout the documentary, there is an implicit feeling that that is not right and that perhaps some artists, incredible as they are, do not want to. her exhibition, so much so that she always made it clear during her life how much she wanted to be reserved and not have her materials touched by anyone. How reserved was she? She didn't even speak her real name to anyone, she always invented variations of her name.

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So, the film leaves a bittersweet in the air, because, at the same time that you feel grateful to have contemplated the incredible and intense photographs of Vivian Maier, the more the film goes on, the more you know that it was the opposite extreme that she wanted to and you feel like you may be invading the privacy of someone who cared for privacy much more than it looks. It is the paradox of our times, where we can contemplate things that perhaps should not be contemplated.