Highland Park, IL (Self-Portrait, Bedroom Mirror) 1965

Curator: This black and white photograph, taken around 1965, is titled "Highland Park, IL (Self-Portrait, Bedroom Mirror)" by Vivian Maier. The image appears to be a gelatin silver print. Editor: My first thought is one of guardedness, maybe even defiance. She's meeting our gaze head-on, almost daring us to interpret her. The mirrored composition only intensifies that feeling of being observed by the observer. Curator: It’s fascinating to consider Maier's choice of materials and setting here. The bedroom, a domestic and personal space, becomes her studio. The mirror, her tool. It underscores the conditions of her work. It suggests a constrained setting, hinting at how material limitations of time, money, and opportunity shaped her artistic output. Editor: Yes, and mirrors traditionally hold symbolic weight—reflecting truth, illusions, even portals to other worlds. Here, it's almost as though she's presenting us with not just her physical likeness but a reflection of her inner self. The twin lens reflex camera she's holding becomes almost like a mask, or perhaps an extension of her identity as the seer. Curator: Considering she was largely unknown during her lifetime, the repeated act of photographing herself takes on additional meaning. What was she intending to show or create? It's such an deliberate recording of daily life. Street photography and these intimate glimpses indoors – there is no traditional boundary in that sense, with all spaces ready made studio spaces. Editor: I agree, the mirror here can act as a space between worlds: one of public performance and private construction, or maybe preservation, of identity. Think of the layering of symbolic meanings, from the most visible representation to deeper psychic, maybe even archetypal levels, and a dialogue begins to emerge, revealing a multilayered reading. What would someone living now find in these images in 50 years? Curator: It certainly invites consideration of labour—Maier as a working woman and the tangible aspect of crafting these images, as a manual and physical job in itself, separate from how the subjects themselves are treated or interpreted. Editor: Absolutely, thinking of labor of course influences how we also receive the symbolic nature of this particular gelatin-silver print. The cultural impact ripples outwards from the images of hidden layers of what seems everyday! Curator: These points invite even deeper thoughts concerning the materiality of this unique artwork, and thank you, truly, for the chance to reflect and talk more about how these are read symbolically. Editor: The pleasure was all mine. It's a photo that clearly gives a lot to think about and feel deeply!