Child Image on the Street in Vivian Maier Photos

Abstract

Vivian Maier is one of the most mysterious photographers in the art of photography who lived in the post-WWII cold war period. Although the artist took many photographs throughout her life, her photographs were only revealed in 2007. Vivian Maier earned her living as a nanny, while she was interested in street photography. The work of this photographer, who was discovered later, sheds a very clear light on her period. These photographs, which deeply describe both the society and the individual through instantaneus photographs, are also powerful social documentary photography products.For this study, among the many photographs taken by the photographer, photos highlighting the subject of children were selected and these were accepted as samples. The article discusses how Vivian Maier conveyed and documented social problems with photographs and reveals the inequality, discrimination, corruption and power / society relations among the American people through children. For this purpose, a semiotic analysis was conducted over the children photographs taken by a nanny who was inclined to see the dark side of the world by evaluating her own period. The striking power of the image has been revealed through the photo analysis.