Mary Ellen Mark
photographer
Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) was a celebrated American photographer known for her documentary photography and portraiture that captured moments of vulnerability and resilience. She photographed people who were 'away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes,' including homeless youth, mental health patients, and sex workers. Mark began photographing at age nine and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and art history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962, followed by a master's degree in photojournalism in 1964. She was a member of Magnum Photos between 1977 and 1981. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and published in major publications like Life, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker. She is well known for her long-term projects, such as 'Ward 81' (1976), where she lived with patients in a secure psychiatric ward to document their lives.[1,3,4,5]
- marginalized individuals
- mental health
- homelessness
- prostitution
- vulnerability
Books
-
Ward 81€134.00
Works by Mary Ellen Mark
- 1979 Ward 81 Photographs by Mary Ellen Mark; text by Karen Folger Jacobs.
- 1974 Passport First book produced after a Fulbright Scholarship to Turkey.
- 1988 Streetwise Based on the 'Streets of the Lost' project for Life magazine.
- 1981 Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay Documenting the lives of prostitutes in Bombay.
Exhibitions
- 1994 Mary Ellen Mark: 25 Years
- 2023 Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81
Awards
- 1980 First Prize, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
- 1988 World Press Photo Award