TV Eye

Hansel Mieth

With so much to lament about what's on TV, it's a delight to have something to rave about, especially when that something is a product of someone living and working right here in Austin. That something is Hansel Mieth: Vagabond Photographer, a documentary by Austin filmmaker and UT cinematography professor Nancy Schiesari. Her film is the next feature on PBS's Independent Lens.

A 10-year resident of Austin who may boast more than 30 film credits, Schiesari is part of a legion of documentary filmmakers who've made Austin home. Her work has appeared in film festivals around the world, gathering critical praise. A 2002 Emmy nominee as cinematographer for The Human Face, she was also director of photography for the Academy Award nominated film Regret to Inform.

That's Nancy Schiesari in a nutshell. But who is Hansel Mieth? Don't let the gentle image of the little old lady that opens Schiesari's film fool you. Mieth was feisty, stubborn, opinionated, and compassionate. She was also an important figure in photojournalism. Yet, if it weren't for several vigilant guides along the way, Schiesari might not have known of Mieth herself. The first of these was Grace Schaub, a writer who published an article about Mieth in Photography Forum in the mid-Nineties.

"Right away, I had a sense of history and knew that [Mieth's] work was a testimony of an important part of history," Schiesari says. "This is a woman who lived through and documented fascist Germany, the Depression, the early migrant stream, McCarthyism, the Japanese internment -- and did this as a woman in a male-dominated profession."

Mieth began work during the golden age of photojournalism (1930s-1950s) and became one of the most prominent photojournalists of the time and the second woman to be a staff photographer for Life magazine. Among her contemporaries were Dorothea Lange, Imogen Cunningham, Peter Stackpole, Carl Mydans, Margaret Bourke-White, and Otto Hagel, her lifelong love and companion. While many of the above have become recognized names, Mieth has been inexplicably left out of photojournalism history, perhaps because she was less interested in self promotion and more interested in using her work as a means to reveal social injustices and to show life on the fringes. This was a deep commitment she shared with Hagel.

"Otto had a philosophy of photography as an instrument of truth and was very interested in making a record, not only of the world but of their own lives," Schiesari says. This included a very deliberate photo record of their lives, even during their most destitute and painful times. "Like Hansel and Gretel, they left a trail." From this, Schiesari artfully assembled a long-overdue tribute to Mieth using her personal photographs, Mieth's work, carefully selected archival footage, and face-to-face interviews with Mieth and others.

"You cannot photograph without a point of view," Mieth says. Schiesari's point of view may be described as respect for and pride in the work of a woman Schiesari can point to as an artistic ancestor.

"I was so fascinated with the gaze of her subjects," Schiesari says. "Especially of the 'oppressed.' They don't look oppressed, but like survivors, defiant and even enjoying life."

Perhaps this is why Mieth's images continue to surprise and disarm. Unlike other photographs which have become part of the cultural record (Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" photos, for instance), Mieth's photos do not valorize pain or romanticize suffering, but show a deep respect for the human subject while being critical or celebratory of the conditions in which her subjects find themselves. Because Mieth took the time to know her subjects, in a sense they became collaborators in the creation of their image. The result is a startlingly human reflection making the distance between the viewer and the subject not so very far.

As in Mieth's photos, there's a sense of faith in Schiesari's film that the process of creating this sorely needed record of Mieth is its own reward. That's not to say Schiesari couldn't use a little help. Because funding was inconsistent and did not cover the huge cost of acquiring the marvelous archival footage in the film, she depended on the contributions of Radio-Television-Film students and friends in the Austin film community. Schiesari is currently soliciting donations in any amount through the Austin Film Society. All donors will receive a special-thanks credit in the film.

But it's Schiesari who deserves the most thanks. Her newest film is not only laudable for its beautiful assemblage of images into a cohesive story, but for the very important contribution it makes in snatching Mieth from oblivion.

Hansel Mieth: Vagabond Photographer airs Tuesday, May 27, at 9pm, on PBS. Check local listings for encore presentations.