Mary Ellen Mark "Remarkable Women" Exhibition at Leica Gallery Boston

74 Arlington Street,Boston MA 02116

08 September, 2022

Description

Join us at Leica Gallery Boston this September 8th from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM for the opening reception of "Remarkable Women" by renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark. Also featured is the work of one of Leica's 2020 Leica Women Foto Project winners, Yana Paskova. Mary Ellen Mark's pictures of diverse people and cultures are groundbreaking images in the documentary field. Her compositions are compassionate and factual, bringing original and insightful ways to examine the human condition in its many forms. "Remarkable Women" features some of Mary Ellen Mark's most memorable images from her lifelong study on women‘s issues. Shown together for the first time with works from Yana Paskova's series, "Where Women Rule," the two artists highlight the inner strength of women all over the world. Leica Gallery Boston is located at 74 Arlington St, Boston, MA and serves as a cultural hub for photography. ARTIST BIO Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015) Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015) has been a leading documentary photographer for over 30 years and has achieved worldwide visibility through her many exhibitions, books, photo essays and portraits. Mark traveled extensively since her first trip to Turkey on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1965. Her pictures of diverse people and cultures are groundbreaking images in the documentary field. Her essays on runaway children in Seattle, circuses and brothels in India, Catholic and Protestant women in Northern Ireland and patients in the maximum-security ward of Oregon State Mental Hospital demonstrate original and insightful ways of examining each theme. Her photographs are compassionate and factual. Drawn to people found on the fringes of society, Marks told stories through her compositions that spoke for those who would not normally have a voice. Creating connections and establishing trust with her subjects was something Marks became known for, truly building a relationship with each person she photographed- often keeping in contact with them for years to come. It was this ability to really see people that makes Mark’s images so powerful, maintaining a sincere empathy while also working with a journalist’s objectivity. Her most famous work was focused on people experiencing homelessness, mental illness, drug addiction, or working as prostitutes. For two months she lived in a high-security women’s ward at the Oregon State Hospital to capture on film the moods and ongoing anxieties of mentally ill women confined to a locked ward. The resulting series, Ward 81 (1979) illustrate Mark’s attempts to record the human condition in its many facets with compassion and honesty. From circus performers in India to a high school senior Prom in Florida, her compositions embody the life and soul of her subjects. ARTIST BIO Yana Paskova Yana Paskova is a Bulgarian-born, Chicago-bred, Brooklyn-based photojournalist and writer. The spark that drives her is her passion for creative visuals, science, music, climate change, the economic and political state of the world, the beauty of the written word, architecture, anthropology, and the true sense of equality. Yana lets her camera define her geography, aiming to create photographs that combine unique aesthetics with a strong narrative, style and meaning- whether in historic context or just beyond the surface of mundanity. A recipient of Leica's 2020 Leica Women Foto Project Award, Yana has worked with clients such as National Geographic, Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, Getty Images, and Reuters, among others. She has received awards from PDN's Photo Annual and American Photography, grants to further her projects from the Pulitzer Center, the International Women's Media Foundation, Getty Images + Panasonic Lumix, and exhibits via ICP and Bulgaria's National Gallery of Art.