This book is a collection of approximately 135 of the most significant photographs of Mary Ellen Mark's career to date, selected by the photographer and carefully edited and designed with her collaboration. While there have been many publications of Mark's photographs over the years, most are out of print and of limited scope; Exposure will therefore stand as the most definitive retrospective of Mary Ellen Mark's career in print. It will include many of her iconic photographs (such as Federico Fellini on the set of Fellini Satyricon, 1969, Tiny in Her Halloween Costume, 1983, The Damm Family in Their Car, 1987), but also little-known images from Mark's archive. The book begins with introductions by Weston Naef and Mary Ellen Mark, followed by the photographs, most reproduced either one per page or one per spread and each accompanied solely by a caption consisting of title and date. The sequencing of the images is personal and organic rather than chronological or by subject, in order to suggest a dialogue among the pictures and to enhance their similarities and differences in terms of subject, composition, or tone. The result is a surprise and intensity of emotions at every turn of page. Concluding the book is an interview with Mark in which she discusses her career and explains in a conversational tone the stories behind some of the photographs in the book. A chronology at the end of the book provides general context and biographical information on the photographer.
