“She drops her shadow deliberately, usually on desolate backdrops, while she finds her reflection in every reflective surface.” Wrote Luc Sante of Vivian Maier’s self-portraits in the New York Times. “A tall, studious, sensibly dressed figure, even when she is not peering down at the ground glass of her Rolleiflex, she manages to stand at the center of the image while somehow at the same time receding from it. Which is fitting, since the images can be considered as both made by her and not. Photography, uniquely, is a two-way street.”

Take a look at Maier’s 20 extraordinary self-portraits below: