Vivian Maier - Unseen work
Photography exhibition in Padova
Date: 25. 4. 2025 - 19. 10. 2025
Place: Centro Culturale Altinate - San Gaetano, Padova
Our rating: ★★★ (3/3) — EXCELLENT
On our way to Verona to see the opera Rigoletto, we made a short stop in Padova that turned into an unexpected highlight of the trip. While wandering through the city, we discovered that a photography exhibition dedicated to Vivian Maier was being held there. Open until the 19th of October, it is truly worth a visit if you have the chance.
The Cultural Centre is hosting the largest exhibition ever dedicated to the famous American photographer Vivian Maier, with more than 200 colour and black and white prints, as well as contact sheets, original audio recordings and Super 8 films, which can only be seen in this retrospective.
Promoted by the Municipality of Padua, from a project by Vertigo Syndrome and in collaboration with diChroma photography, the exhibition is produced and organised by Arthemisia.
Curated by Anne Morin, the leading expert and scholar on the artist’s life, the exhibition is divided into thematic sections that explore the subjects and distinctive aspects of her style: from intense self-portraits to scenes of urban life, from portraits of children to images of people on the margins of society.
contact sheets
The selection includes black and white and colour photographs, many of which are rare and have only recently been shown to the public. The exhibition is further enriched by various personal items, including her Rolleiflex and Leica cameras.
“Well, I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.”
A Familiar Scene
During our visit to the Vivian Maier exhibition, I experienced a moment of striking recognition. Among the photographs on display, one image in particular caught my attention: a parent holding two children by the hand, standing at the edge of the road, waiting to cross.
It immediately echoed a photograph I had taken in Cuba in 2016, almost identical in composition and mood. Maier’s version, taken in New York in 1954, resonated deeply with me because I had never seen it before. To suddenly encounter an image from another era that mirrors one of my own felt like a small discovery of connection through time. It was as if photography itself had woven an invisible thread between her lens and mine, reminding me how universal human moments can transcend geography, culture, and generations.
Vivian Maier - NY 1954 [vivianmaier.com]
Miroslav Slapka - Cuba 2016 / miresk
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