The Styrous® Viewfinder: Michelle Vignes photographs

July 18, 2017

Michelle Vignes photographs

"I started as a photographer upon my arrival in San Francisco in 1966. Was San Francisco or California so special? I could not figure it out. I felt like falling in another world, another time, another planet - It was the richest time I could find. The emotions ran high, the hopes too, the intensity was exhausting and elating.

People no longer wanted to dwell on the past. And there I was thrown into the present in an open door, but where?? There were so many subjects to document, so many happenings - too much.... I cared mostly for the political and social changes that I documented and was curious about the new rock scene but was no part of it, just an observer - I am happy to have lived this in San Francisco. It was an extraordinary time of sharing and learning - it still stayed in me and inspired me forever."

~ Michelle Vignes

Paris

Concierge 123 rue de la Glacière Paris 13e - 1971

Le déjeuner du dimanche, la famille

Native Americans

Portrait of Native American man

Ruth Roechell, a Navajo, in Rough Rock, Arizona

The women's prison
Frontera - 1969

Pineridge Reservation

Kyle, South Dakota - 1969

Dennis Banks, an Anishinaabe,
co-founder of the American Indian Movement
Mobridge, South Dakota - 1974

Wounded Knee, South Dakota
during the siege in 1973

Ka-Mook Nichols, Lakota woman,
Yolo Country, California

San Francisco seen from Alcatraz after the island was occupied by American Indians in 1969. In the foreground was the son of Richard Oakes, one of the organizers of the event.