Known for her humanistic black-and-white portraits, Mary Ellen Mark made it her life's work to photograph those who didn't quite fit in. Whether that meant capturing the day-to-day life of Indian circus performers, the peculiarity of twins, or the loneliness of celebrities, she was drawn to people with pronounced personalities. “Attitude,” a new exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, explores this idea through 40 of the late photographer's images. “She was passionate and compassionate. Life mattered. Animals mattered. People mattered,” said Melissa Harris, the show's curator. The images focus on “self-possession,” Harris said, and highlight Mark's ability to make viewers “feel, without telling you what or how to feel.” The gallery has shared a selection of these images with The Atlantic, presented below.
The Startling Portraiture of Mary Ellen Mark
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Read moreA contortionist with her puppy Sweety at the Great Raj Kamal Circus in Upleta, India, in 1989. #
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Read moreAn older couple kiss in a bar in New York City in 1977. #
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Read moreEtta James and Strappy in Riverside, California, in 1997. #
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Read moreA girl jumps over a wall in Central Park, New York City, in 1967. #
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Read moreMarlon Brando is fascinated by a dragonfly during the filming of Apocalypse Now in Pagsanjan, Philippines, in 1976. #
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Read moreA woman named Tiny blows a bubble in Seattle, Washington, in 1983. #
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Read moreSean Penn in his Manhattan dressing room in 1983. #
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Read moreAmanda and her cousin Amy in Valdese, North Carolina, in 1990. #
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Read moreMother Teresa at her mission, the Home for the Dying, in Calcutta, India, in 1980. #
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Read moreVera Antinoro, Rhoda Camporato, and Murray Goldman at Luigi's Italian American Club in Miami, Florida, in 1993. #
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