Overview
Acclaimed American documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark (b. 1940) made her first iconic pictures when living in Turkey on a Fulbright Fellowship in the mid-1960s. Her photographs of Bombay brothels, shot in the late 1970s, were published in 1981 in Falkland Road, a book that became legendary and confirmed her status as one of the most prominent and provocative documentary photographers. Mark's pictures are a celebration of humanity in its most diverse and eccentric forms. Mark has the unique ability to capture gestures and expressions that translate the intense emotions of her subjects. Compassionate but never literal, her pictures can be humorous, tragic, enigmatic, shocking, and oftentimes all of these simultaneously.
Mary Ellen Mark: Exposure is a beautifully edited career retrospective, a selection of the strongest pictures of Mark's forty-year career, drawing from emblematic series such as "Falkland Road," "Indian Circus," and "Twins," as well as a selection of previously unpublished images. Subjects range from a camp for children with cancer in California to brothels in Bombay, white supremacist groups in Idaho, gypsy camps in Spain, and much more. The images were carefully selected by Mark from her own archive, with sequencing and book design also in collaboration with the photographer. The book includes an introduction by photography historian Weston Naef, and an interview with Mark that provides insightful context and behind-the-scene anecdotes. Together Mark's images and words provide intimate insights into the lives of others, presenting compelling stories of human strength and suffering.