About The Book
Ward 81, photographed in 1976, was Mary Ellen Mark’s first independent long-term project. Mark and writer Karen Folger Jacobs set out to document the lives of the women in this locked ward at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem—the only one in the state. Every day for five weeks, Mark photographed and Jacobs interviewed the women on Ward 81. At night they slept in an empty adjacent ward.
Ward 81: Voices, an expanded edition of the original 1979 book, includes previously unpublished photographs, excerpts from interviews with patients and recorded conversations between Mark and Jacobs, as well as new essays examining the influence of their project. Publisher’s Info
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About The Artist
The images of Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) are icons of documentary and humanistic photography. Mark’s more than 20 books include Passport (1974), Falkland Road (1981) and Indian Circus (1993). Her 2015 book Tiny: Streetwise Revisited is a culmination of 32 years documenting Erin Blackwell (Tiny), who featured in Martin Bell’s 1985 film Streetwise and Mark’s 1988 book of the same name.
A dedicated social documentarian and portraitist, she often turned her lens to marginalized communities – circus performers in India, street children in Seattle, the patients of Ward 81, and many others – invariably connecting profoundly with her subjects. Mark’s work has been exhibited and published in magazines worldwide.
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Specifics
Ward 81 Voices by Mary Ellen Mark / Karen Folger Jacobs published by Steidl 01 / 2023. Edited by Martin Bell, Julia Bezgin and Meredith Lue. 288 pages with 141 images. Hardback / Clothbound. 30.5 x 30.5 cm. ISBN 978-3-96999-013-1. Link.
Related: My favs from the Internet Archive (15): Charles Hagen (Editor): Mary Ellen Mark.
