“A Kind of Spy”: The Secret Life of Vivian Maier
Who was Vivian Maier? She could be described the way Churchill once spoke of Russia, as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” A prim, foreign-accented woman, Maier … Continue reading
Making an Honest Woman of Herself: The Story of The World Famous *BOB*
You can’t ignore The World Famous *BOB*. Standing at around six foot six in a bouffant wig and high heels, voluptuous and effervescent, she dominates any room she enters. You … Continue reading
From Eye Candy to Icon: Influential Movie Moments
A former astronaut, whose rocket ship seems to have time-traveled to the distant past, is riding on horseback along a beach. After years of being imprisoned by a master race … Continue reading
Identity Politics: an interview with Paolo Woods
Think of Haiti, and chances are, one of a few images will spring to mind. The earthquake of 2010, with its grisly death toll and survivors living in makeshift tent … Continue reading
A Hard Softness: Julia Margaret Cameron and Afterimage
The new Julia Margaret Cameron show at the Metropolitan Museum is everything Cameron herself was not: small, orderly, and understated. Yet it’s far from being a trifle. Even in a … Continue reading
Trendspotting at Photoville
Take a bare strip of land on the Brooklyn waterfront, throw in some shipping containers, add lashings of photography and a generous pinch of the Brooklyn hipster vibe, and what … Continue reading
Photography meets Theater in Chimerica
When does a news photograph become iconic? Typically, when it distils an important story into a single, powerfully graphic image. Its subjects are often victims of injustice—Nick Ut’s napalmed Vietnamese … Continue reading
Mass Observation
Where is the line between observation and surveillance, between reportage and invasion of privacy? This is one of the old chestnuts of journalism, and it’s especially sensitive in the case … Continue reading
Photograms, from Man Ray to Thomas Ruff
Recently I’ve been reading Man Ray’s 1963 autobiography, Self Portrait, as research for my fiction. It’s an interesting read on many levels. The child of poor Russian Jewish immigrants, Ray … Continue reading
