Mary Ellen Mark: A Homage to Humanist Photography
With the exhibition "The Lives of Women", the Vienna Photo Museum WestLicht will be honoring the life's work of the renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark from November 22, 2024. This most comprehensive presentation of her work in Austria to date shows the groundbreaking work of an artist who documented the lives of people on the fringes of society for decades. Her empathetic and respectful view of women and girls makes her an icon of humanistic photography. A photographer of the marginalized Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) is considered one of the most important representatives of photojournalism. At a time when photography was predominantly dominated by men, her work set an example of sensitivity and authenticity. She saw herself not only as an observer, but as an advocate for her protagonists, whose often precarious living environments she documented with impressive closeness and integrity. Her works have been published in leading magazines such as Life, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair and are now part of the canon of photography history. Milestones of her work The exhibition presents around 100 photographs, including iconic series such as Ward 81, an intimate report about patients in a psychiatric clinic in Oregon, and Falkland Road, which examines the lives of sex workers in Mumbai. Indian Circus, a series about traveling circus families in India, and the Oscar-nominated project Streetwise about homeless youth in Seattle also have their place in the show. The exhibition is complemented by films, including the documentary Streetwise with music by Tom Waits, as well as book publications and magazine articles. A mirror of society Mary Ellen Mark not only held up a mirror to the realities of life of marginalized groups
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