Maggie Diaz was born Margaret Eunice Reid on 25 February 1925, in Kansas City Missouri, USA “out of wedlock” and spent her early childhood years in New York along with younger brothers Tom and Jim. Maggie’s father, Arthur Reid was an attorney. Her mother, Sarah Berger had worked as his secretary. Sarah had grown up in a Presbyterian home for girls, having been a left “a foundling”, as a baby. The two did eventually marry, but their relationship was extremely volatile. Arthur finally left her with three children when Maggie was12.

Maggie had actually experienced a “middle class” existence prior to this time – ballet, theatre, opera and fine art classes. Sarah became ill and Maggie had to go to work to support the family when she was 14 – first in bakeries and then a steel mill during the Second World War (1939). At 17, she left home to travel around America, earning small amounts as she went. “It was like a strange dream…” It was a tenuous existence and she returned home to her mother mentally and physically exhausted and suffered a nervous breakdown. She was treated with the same form of shock therapy, as the returning servicemen of the time and encouraged to smoke “to relax”. The next few years were very difficult. Eventually Maggie began to get some work as a domestic help, but there was no sign of what the future may hold for her.

In 1945, she received a telegram from her brother Tom, a skilled ice skater, who was working as a performer in a magic show. “Blackstone wants another girl – send a picture!” She was sent the fare to Chicago and toured America in The Blackstone Magic Show. “I had an Indian costume and I used to go ‘whoo, whoo’ and shake my arse. I had a ball and it did me good.” With added confidence, Maggie applied for a job in an Ad agency and got it. She had natural drawing ability, so would be asked to do “spot” sketches and would always carry a pad around with her. Accompanying her boss on photographic assignments, she quickly became intrigued by the camera and skilled as a dark room assistant. Very soon she was handed her first 35mm camera and started to carry that around instead of the sketchpad. She was influenced by Bresson and other photographers featured in Edward Steichen’s 1955 exhibition: A Family of Man, originating from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She looked for subjects on the streets and kids became familiar with her non-invasive presence.

Her freelance career was well and truly launched when she won a competition run by the Chicago Tribune in the early 1950s with a photo of a young male model in a tunnel using available light and a large format Roleflex camera. The prize was $500 – quite a sum at the time. It helped her set up her own studio where she adopted the name ‘Maggie Besson.’ She soon became resident photographer at the elite Tavern Club, mixing with millionaires and musicians. She took some of the first publicity shots for the now legendary Ramsey Lewis Trio. At the same time, she documented the development of Lower North Center – a housing project for Afro Americans, Hispanics, Mexicans and other low socio economic Chicago residents.

In the late 1950s, she met and married Clem Fraser – a charismatic Australian graphic designer. She didn’t want to marry him, but he was insistent. The marriage lasted three years and then as a divorce gift Clem bought Maggie a one-way ticket to Australia “to meet his family”. She arrived in Melbourne on the first voyage of The Canberra in 1961.

Known by now as Maggie Besson Fraser, Maggie quickly made a name for herself in the commercial art world of Melbourne where there were very few women at the time.

A series of photographs which form part of the interior design of the new 3AW studios in the Southern Cross Garden Plaza are the work of a woman. THE AGE, March 6th 1964

She brought to Melbourne a little of the mystique and glamour from her previous life. Her love of night photography saw her produce exciting promotional shots of the city and her continued love of natural street scenes and people, saw her capture a 60s Melbourne from an outsider’s perspective. She also became known for her skilled use of available light and a series of images produced for the Annual Report for The Brotherhood of St Laurence demonstrated this, along with a photographic expose on the printing industry called Printing is People. This was used as an example of excellence in use of available light by the photography faculty of RMIT at the time. As resident photographer for 3AW for two years, she recorded events and created publicity material, along with work for ABC radio and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She was closely associated with agencies such as Clemenger and Les Klempke.

But it was the Spanish clubs of Melbourne that were her spiritual home in the 60s. It was here that she worked and spent time with people with whom she felt at ease and where she met Jose, an escapee from the Spanish Foreign Legion. Also an outsider, the two formed a bond that would last more than 35 years. Maggie gave birth to Estevan Diaz in 1967 and continued to work as much as possible, although it was very difficult with a young child. When Clem Fraser returned to Australia a short time later, he set up a studio in Martin St, Gardenvale and invited Maggie, Jose and Stevan to live with him. “It was great for the men – they played golf and got along very well together!” Eventually Clem moved out and Maggie and Jose started a dedicated photographic studio. She changed her name to Maggie Diaz.

During the 1970s she created a successful business doing portraiture, actors’ composites, fashion photography, promotional work, technical work, newspapers and anything that came her way. During the 1980s, she forged strong alliances with the Sacha Agency and later JM Casting. In the late 80s early 90s she became deeply involved with the Fringe theatre scene, photographing scores of plays at La Mama, The Courthouse, and Playbox.

In the late 1990s Maggie’s work started to wind down. She had become blind in one eye due to cataract damage and no longer had her own darkroom facility, which she missed greatly. It was just prior to this time that Jose had suffered his first heart attack and then in 2003 he died suddenly, after refusing to have a bypass operation. Maggie currently shares a rented flat in Balaclava with her son, Stevan. She continues to be passionate about photography, the creative process and most importantly, the work.

It is a great joy to Maggie that her brother Jim and niece Dawn are travelling to Australia to see this retrospective. She has not seen Jim for forty-five years!

The Australian Film Commission has now funded the development of a documentary on the life of Maggie Diaz.

Gwendolen De Lacy February 2007

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