Mittelman took this image at the NYC Marathon in November 2022, exactly 75 years ago this month. 

His journal entry from that overcast day is both enigmatic and revealing: “I cannot take much credit for any of these photos: I am simply the channel for their birth. I press the shutter, allowing them life, and then they breathe on their own”. In the next several paragraphs Mittelman presciently rants about the state of the planet in the early 21st century. Refocused, he continues: “Today, I walked around Central Park, made it to the Marathon and took a few photos. This image surprises me. It even leaves me distressed and a bit shaken”.

Mittelman gave few interviews during his lifetime, preferring to let his images speak rather than adding his own words. And so in this retrospective, as would surely have been his wish, we allow this photo of the lone runner to speak on its own terms, to be given our own interpretation as we each see fit.

Dr. Helise Consecutor, Curator, “Mittelman: The Post-Pandemic Years”, Museum of the Northern Confederation, November 2097