Mary Ellen Mark is both one of the world's most respected photo journalists and portraitists, her subjects often beleaguered, belittled and marginalized. Mark's black and white images tell the tale of a nation whose growing pains are something tangible.Mark began photographing with a Box Brownie camera at age nine. During high school, she was head cheerleader with a knack for painting and drawing. Pursuing a career in art, she studied painting and art history for a bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania around 1959. She turned professional as a freelance in the mid-1960s when she returned to school at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, in 1965, Mary was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to photograph in Turkey and other countries in Europe for a year.
Mary's photography has addressed difficult social issues, including homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction and prostitution.
Mary has had three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Robert Kennedy Journalism Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and five honorary doctorates. She was a member of the Magnum Photos photography agency from 1977-1982.
In 1988 she received a George Polk Award for photojournalism.
Mary is a classic in so many ways. My life is better for having known her.
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