Mary Ellen Mark

1940-2015

American (United States)

Mark was an award-winning photojournalist and documentary photographer, best known for her portraits of people who were rarely represented in mainstream society.  Mark prioritized building mutually respectful relationships with her subjects, as part of her effort to give visibility to the invisible. Her magazine stories addressed challenging issues that crossed cultural and national boundaries--such as  mental illness, homelessness, drug addiction, and prostitution--with empathy and humanity. Children were a frequent theme in her work.