Milton Rogovin’s "Quartets"

Among Buffalo photographer Milton Rogovin’s most astonishing works are his “Quartets,” in which he returns to the same people again and again over the years. Pictured here are his photographs of Cecilia Maldonado in 1973, 1985, 1992 and 2001. When she was interviewed about the photos in the 2003 book “Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones,” she said:

“That first picture? I was 16. I had just got married. That’s my oldest daughter. That’s my husband. He had problems. He was doing things that wasn’t supposed to be done, and I didn’t appreciate that, so I left him. The last time I seen him was in ’72, and I haven’t seen him since. … This one [1985] I’m 25, somewhere around there. That was a piece of nothing there. … This one [1992], that’s my buddy, Carlos. Carlos Plaza. Him, he’s my heart. I met him at the shelter we were both working at, and we hit it off. He was sick when I met him. He told me, but you don’t think about the virus or the AIDS. You think about the way you feel about him. I took care of him from ’85 to ’93, when he died. … I stay by myself now. … I don’t think about what’s going to happen tomorrow. If it comes, it comes. If it don’t it don’t. I just go day by day.”

Milton Rogovin “A Clear View,” Gallery Kayafas, 450 Harrison Ave., Boston, Dec. 3, 2008, to Jan. 10, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: Milton Rogovin, “Buffalo Lower West Side Revisited (Cecil & Cecilia),” 1973, 1985, 1991, 2002.