Vivian Maier was a street photographer in the latter half of the 20th century, capturing intricacies of daily life at a time when camera culture and street photography was on the rise. Though Maier was extremely prolific as a photographer, she worked professionally as a nanny, often carrying several cameras around while she was working. A private person, she was largely unknown and undiscovered during most of her lifetime, but beginning close to her death in 2009, her archive was picked up by collectors in Chicago and her work quickly scattered online.
Pamela Bannos, Professor of Photography at Northwestern University, became interested in Maier’s life and work after a local public television station asked her to comment on the photographer’s work. Her biography is Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life And Afterlife (University of Chicago Press, 2017).
As recorded for wortfm.org and Tone Madison.