Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark has published 14 books and has exhibited her photographs around the world over the last thirty years. Her photographic projects on Mother Teresa, Indian circuses, Bombay prostitutes and American street kids are regarded as key works in the field of contemporary documentary photography. The readers of American Photo voted Mark the most influential woman photographer. She published work in Life, New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Her work is always about people and their social situations. She is often interested in those forgotten or misjudged by society. Mark makes them visible. The original and unique black & white Polaroids on display in the Museum of Photography, are of sets of twins (and in one case, triplets). At the festival, most twins come identically dressed and at first sight seem indistinguishable from each other. By using the large format 20x24 inch. Polaroid, Mark allows us to look very closely at their similarities. By looking so closely, we start to see their differences, too. Mary Ellen Mark’s Twins project culminated in 2003 with the publication of ‘Twins’. In the books introduction to this, she refers to herself as a documentary- and a portrait photographer. “Great documentary photography captures the precise moment in one frame”, she declares, “great portrait photography captures the essence of the person.” Every time we meet twins we stop to look at them and wonder at their alikeness. “By using this large format camera, I could show, in precise detail, not only how much twins are alike but the subtle qualities that often make them so different.” Also, what was wonderful about the camera was that both Mary Ellen and the subject could look at the image within minutes. Mary Ellen’s husband, Martin Bell, has made an intriguing documentary film about twins revealing the extraordinary bond that exists between them. This film will also be shown during the exhibition. See also: www.maryellenmark.com