Mary Ellen Mark (March 20, 1940 – May 25, 2015) was an American photographer known for her photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography.

She had 18 collections of her work published, including Streetwiseand Ward 81, and has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide. She received numerous accolades, including three Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2014 Lifetime Achievement in Photography Award from the George Eastman House and the Outstanding Contribution Photography Award from the World Photography Organisation.

Life and work

Mary Ellen Mark was born in Elkins Park in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began photographing with a Box Brownie camera at age nine. She attended Cheltenham High School, where she was head cheerleader and exhibited a knack for painting and drawing. She received a BFA degree in painting and art history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962, and a Masters Degree in photojournalism from that university's Annenberg School for Communication in 1964. The following year, Mark received a Fulbright Scholarship to photograph in Turkey for a year. While there, she also traveled to photograph England, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain.

In 1966 or 1967, she moved to New York City, where over the next several years she photographed demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War, the women's liberation movement, transvestite culture, and Times Square, developing a sensibility, according to one writer, "away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes". Her photography went on to address such social issues as homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction, and prostitution.

She described her approach to her subjects: "I’ve always felt that children and teenagers are not "children," they’re small people. I look at them as little people and I either like them or I don’t like them. I also have an obsession with mental illness. And strange people who are outside the borders of society." Mark also said, "I’d rather pull up things from another culture that are universal, that we can all relate to….There are prostitutes all over the world. I try to show their way of life…" and that "I feel an affinity for people who haven't had the best breaks in society. What I want to do more than anything is acknowledge their existence". Mark was well known for establishing strong relationships with her subjects. Her project "Street Kids", for Life, was developed into the movie Streetwise.

Mark became a unit photographer on movie sets, shooting production stills for films including Arthur Penn's Alice's Restaurant(1969), Mike Nichols' Catch-22 (1970), Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) among her earliest. For Look magazine, she photographed Federico Fellini shooting his film Satyricon (1969). Mark has since photographed on the sets of more than 100 movies, up through at least director Baz Luhrmann's Australia (2008).

Mark utilised a wide range of film cameras, in various formats from 2 ¼ inch square, 35 mm, and 4×5 inch view camera, primarily in black and white using Kodak Tri-X film.

Mark published 17 books of photographs; contributed to publications including Life, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair; and her photographs have been exhibited worldwide. She served as a guest juror for photography call for entries at The Center for Fine Art Photography.

In 1992 Mark was a writer, associate producer and still photographer for the feature film American Heart starring Jeff Bridgesand Edward Furlong. The film was directed by her husband Martin Bell.

Mark was married to film director Martin Bell and resided in New York City.

Mark died on May 25, 2015 at the age of 75.

Books

• Passport. Lustrum Press, 1974.
• Ward 81. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979.
• Falkland Road. New York: Knopf, 1981.
• Mother Teresa's Mission of Charity in Calcutta. Friends of Photography, 1985.
• Streetwise. Second printing. New York: Aperture, 1992.
• The Photo Essay. Photographers at Work series. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1990. ISBN 978-1-560980-03-2.
• Mary Ellen Mark: 25 Years. New York: Bulfinch, 1991.
• Indian Circus. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1993, and Japan: Takarajimasha, 1993.
• Portraits. Italy: Motta Fotografica, 1995 and Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1997.
• A Cry for Help. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
• Mary Ellen Mark: American Odyssey. New York: Aperture, 1999. ISBN 978-0-893-81880-7
• Mary Ellen Mark 55. London: Phaidon, 2001. ISBN 978-0-714-84617-0
• Photo Poche: Mary Ellen Mark. Paris: Nathan, 2002.
• Twins. New York: Aperture, 2003.
• Mary Ellen Mark: Exposure. London: Phaidon, 2005.
• Extraordinary Child. Reykjavík: National Museum of Iceland, 2007.
• Seen Behind the Scene. London: Phaidon, 2008.
• Prom. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012.
• Man and Beast: Photographs from Mexico and India. Austin: University of Texas, 2014. ISBN 978-0-292-75611-3.

Awards

Awards and honors

• 1980: First Prize, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, "Mother Teresa", Life
• 1980: Page One Award for Excellence in Journalism, The Newspaper Guild of New York, "Children of Desire", The New York Times Magazine
• 1981: First Prize, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, "Mother Teresa in Calcutta", Life Magazine
• 1982: Leica Medal of Excellence, Falkland Road
• 1984: First Prize, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, "Camp Good Times", Life
• 1986: The Phillipe Halsman Award for Photojournalism, American Society of Magazine Photographers
• 1987: Photographer of the Year Award, The Friends of Photography
• 1988: World Press Photo Award, for Outstanding Body of Work Throughout the Years
• 1988: George Polk Award, Photojournalism
• 1988: Distinguished Photographer's Award, Women in Photography*
• 1989: The World Hunger Media Awards, Best Photojournalism, "Children of Poverty", Life
• 1990: Pictures of the Year Award for Magazine Portrait/Personality, "The Face of Rural Poverty", Fortune Magazine
• 1992: Society of Newspaper Design, Award of Excellence, Magazine Cover and Photojournalism Feature, The New York Times Magazine
• 1993: Front Page Award, The Newswomen's Club of New York, "Cree Indians" for Condé Nast Traveler, November 10, 1993
• 1994: The Professional Photographer of the Year Award, Photographic Manufacturers and Distributors Association
• 1995: Pictures of the Year, 1st Place Magazine Division, "Napping" Freelance/Life
• 1996: Pictures of the Year, 1st Place Magazine Division, for issue reporting "Damm Family"; 3rd place in Magazine division for picture essay
• 1996: Master Series Award, School of Visual Arts
• 1997: Infinity Award, International Center of Photography
• 1998: The Art Directors Club Silver Award, "El Circo"
• 1998: The Society of Publication Designers, Gold Medal Award for Design Entire Issue, "Battle of the Generations", Fast Company
• 1999: Leadership Award, International Photographic Council
• 1999: Photographic Administrators Incorporated, Award for Excellence in Photojournalism
• 2001: Cornell Capa Award, International Center of Photography
• 2003: Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Photography[13]
• 2003: World Press Photo Awards, First Prize in the Arts (Twins series)
• 2006: Visionary Woman Award, Moore College of Art & Design
• 2014: 2014 Lifetime Achievement in Photography Award from the George Eastman House.[1]
• 2014: Outstanding Contribution Photography Award from the World Photography Organisation.

Grants and fellowships

• 1965-66: Fulbright Scholarship to photograph in Turkey.
• 1975: U.S.I.A. Grant to lecture and exhibit in Yugoslavia.
• 1977: National Endowment for the Arts.
• 1977: New York State Council for the Arts: CAPS Grant.
• 1978: Commissioned Artist with the Bell System Photography Project.
• 1979-80: National Endowment for the Arts.
• 1990: National Endowment for the Arts.
• 1994: John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.
• 1997: Hasselblad Foundation Grant to continue to work on American Odyssey.