While she was known for her raw and uncut Portraiture, she was also known for her use of color. Mary Ellen Mark has a way of capturing color similar to William Eggleston. . Only her subject matter is more "unique".
A body of work that has moved and inspired me is her work from Bombay, India entitled Faulkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay. I did a report on these photographs, their "exploitation" and her use of color. I was so moved by her use of pattern, decisive moment, color, flash, and subject matter. While Mary Ellen Mark was known to take risque pictures, Faulkland Road was probably her most controversial.
She took to Bombay with her camera and for months she photographed the brothels, their young prostitutes, and the lives of the transsexual prostitutes. It took her weeks to gain their trust and she went back more than once to do so. A lot of these girls are between 12-18yrs of age and at the time, homosexuality was still taboo, so critiques automatically called this art pure exploitation. .
However I saw and still see more to it. . And I hope you do, too.
A body of work that has moved and inspired me is her work from Bombay, India entitled Faulkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay. I did a report on these photographs, their "exploitation" and her use of color. I was so moved by her use of pattern, decisive moment, color, flash, and subject matter. While Mary Ellen Mark was known to take risque pictures, Faulkland Road was probably her most controversial.
She took to Bombay with her camera and for months she photographed the brothels, their young prostitutes, and the lives of the transsexual prostitutes. It took her weeks to gain their trust and she went back more than once to do so. A lot of these girls are between 12-18yrs of age and at the time, homosexuality was still taboo, so critiques automatically called this art pure exploitation. .
However I saw and still see more to it. . And I hope you do, too.
For more information, please go to: http://www.maryellenmark.com