Mary Ellen Mark: Tiny, Streetwise Revisited
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Mary Ellen Mark: Tiny, Streetwise Revisited Details
Review Its incredible scope represents the dedication of a photographer whose work is imbued with a palpable compassion, and the generosity of a subject willing to unclothe realities of life on the margins of society. –CNNMark’s black-and-white updated images of her subjects, accompanied by their words, are a testament to an enduring trust and empathy. –The Boston GlobeHer half-century of documentary work and portraiture made Mark, who died in May at age 75, one of the most important photographers of her era. –Los Angeles Times It is one of the most striking and moving of this season's photography books. –Los Angeles TimesMark's empathy and compassion toward her subjects make her work exceptionally evocative and powerful. These works provide an opportunity to re-examine the lives of those around us, the hardships and inner worlds hidden to the superficial eye, which Mark's lens and spirit allowed her to capture. –Hyperallergic Read more About the Author Renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark’s numerous honors and awards included a Fulbright Scholarship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Cornell Capa Award, and the 2014 Lifetime Achievement in Photography Award from George Eastman House. During her lifetime, her photo essays and portraits were exhibited worldwide and appeared in numerous publications, including Life, the New York Times Magazine, and the New Yorker. Her photo essay on runaway children in Seattle became the basis of the Academy Award–nominated film Streetwise, directed and photographed by her husband Martin Bell, and was published in book form in 1988. Mark published twenty-one books, including American Odyssey (Aperture, 1999), Twins (Aperture, 2003), Exposure (2005), Seen Behind the Scene (2009), Prom (2012), and Tiny: Streetwise Revisited (Aperture, 2015). In addition to producing her own work, Mark taught photography workshops for nearly thirty years; her thoughts on teaching are captured in one of her final titles, Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment (Aperture’s Photography Workshop Series, 2015).Chilean author Isabel Allende’s (text) bestselling first novel The House of the Spirits (1982) established her as a feminist force in Latin America’s male-dominated literary world. She has since written nearly twenty more works, including Of Love and Shadows (1987) and City ofthe Beasts (2012). Her most recent is Ripper (2014).John Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. His first novel, "Setting Free the Bears", was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven. Mr. Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times--winning once, in 1980, for his novel "The World According to Garp". He received an O. Henry Award in 1981 for his short story "Interior Space." In 2000, Mr. Irving won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Cider House Rules". In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for his novel "In One Person". An international writer--his novels have been translated into more than thirty-five languages--John Irving lives in Toronto. His all-time bestselling novel, in every language, is "A Prayer for Owen Meany". Read more
Reviews
Occasionally photographs make an indelible impression. One of the unforgettable photographs of my experience -- from years ago -- was Mary Ellen Mark's picture of a young, thin girl, dressed up in black sleeveless dress, black gloves, and black hat and veil, with a challenging, steely gaze that did not entirely mask her vulnerability. But I never knew the back-story. She was barely fourteen, a girl of the streets of Seattle, a prostitute. Her name was Erin, but everyone called her Tiny. She was a prominent figure in Mark's 1988 book of photographs "Streetwise" and her husband Martin Bell's documentary movie of the same name, both about a group of Seattle street kids in 1983.Mark struck up a friendship with Tiny and visited her periodically over the years, each time taking more photographs of Tiny and her world. Thus, Mark chronicled Tiny's life as she went through drug addictions and, in a span of twenty-two years, had ten children by four or so different men. Over time her body ballooned so that she was Tiny in nickname only. That photographic chronicle is presented in TINY: STREETWISE REVISITED, which contains some of the 1983 pictures of Tiny and the Seattle street kids as well as photographs of Tiny and her family over the following years. It is a less than glamorous "Life in America".The book reprints John Irving's Introduction to the original "Streetwise". In it he asked, "At a time when so many of the self-righteous are crusading for the rights of the unborn, who is paying attention to the born?" That is still a highly relevant question. As further evidence that it is a complex issue, here is Tiny's take on abortion: "I'm Catholic. Um, no I don't actively practice the religion, no, but I do believe in some of the things that they believe in like the abortions that I don't think should be."
