This image is from Mary Ellen Mark's body of work called Ward 81. After working on the set of "One flew over the cuckoos nest" Mark found this ward. It took her over a year and a lot of persistence to be able to go and photograph the patients. She focused on capturing the patient as who where, not what they where. Mark did not photograph their illness's, she focused her camera on what the person was doing. When she first started this body of work she was afraid that the patients would "reject her". I was drawn to this specific photo because of the eeriness I felt when I first looked at it. Without knowing that the photo was taken in a ward, it is easy to conclude that. This women's emotion and position in bed makes her look insane and put away. When looking at this series together, it evokes emotions and almost freight. Im not frightened by the actual pictures themselves, but imagining taking the photo. These photos are powerful. The emotions are raw.
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