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class of 1958
inducted in 1993
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Mary Ellen Mark
Photojournalist
Mary Ellen Mark has made her mark on the
world as one of the premier photojournalists and photoessayists
of her era. Focusing neither on the mundane aspects of everyday life nor on
the grotesque absurdities of society's misfits, Mark choose instead to turn
her camera on society's fringes and, in the most unexpected of places, in a
brothel in Bombay, in Oregon State Hospital, to find the truly human.
Mark received a B.F.A. in Painting and Art history and an M.A. in Photojournalism
from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1965 she was awarded a Fulbright
Scholarship to photograph in Turkey. Her career spans over a quarter of a
century. Her works have been published in 26 books and countless magazines.
Her technique to get involved, be accepted by the subject, find the common
link of humanity - has resulted in some of the most startling, awakening
photographs ever taken: photographs of prostitutes waiting to be picked up by
a John, photos of children in Calcutta at Mother Teresa's hospice, of
patients in Ward 81 struggling to make it through the day. Many consider Mark
one of the finest photojournalists in the world, and even more consider her
the finest female in the field.
Mark's photographs reveal all aspects of the humanity she reaches: sadness,
happiness, pain. Her work is emotionally intense and difficult for her
sometimes, but she does not maintain any preconceptions about her mission:
"Any photographer who thinks he or she going to
change the world has an inflated ego."
Nevertheless, if connecting a viewer with the subject, if making a subject's
emotions all to clear, if making the viewer more aware of what's out there,
if any of these can change the world, then Mary Ellen Mark has as good a
chance to do it as any CHS alum.
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