Dawn, 1909, gelatin silver print, 5.25 x 10.25 inches. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection
Breaking a Great Chain
Pioneering photographer Anne Brigman's Sierra nudes overturned gender expectations and reframed the place of humans in the environment
It’s not known what Anne Brigman thought as she was falling from the ship’s deck into the four-masted barkentine’s open hold, or what went through her mind when the fall ended and she felt the stabbing pain of injury, or how she considered herself later when the surgery and recovery were over and she looked in the mirror to see the scars and disfigurement of having her left breast removed. Brigman would become the creator of thousands of photographs, as well as a prolific writer of prose and poetry. She was acutely conscious of herself, her body, and her work. And yet an event that might signify a major life trauma, especially occurring in the late 1800s when gender roles were more entrenched, was for her little more than a footnote in her 80 years of life.
Perhaps it just didn’t matter. But that seems all the more remarkable considering where she chose to focus her camera. In 1905, after a few years
1,700 words to go
You’re just getting to the good part.
This story — and 41 issues of them — opens with a subscription.
Either one picks up right where you left off.
Join 7,000+ readers · Independently owned · Since 2008
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Adventure Journal — Print Quarterly
Stories like this, in your hands four times a year.
41 issues. 10 years. Independently owned. Printed on 70lb uncoated paper with a soft-touch cover, solar-powered, and shipped in a brown paper envelope. Free domestic shipping.
