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Ellen Mark's Ward 81, A Photobook By Karen Folger Jacobs

1427 Words6 Pages

A photographic essay is a unique kind of medium. It could consist a set of photographic elements accompanied by notes, comments and captions or could be built up by a whole essay illustrated with photographs. I believe a great photographic essay is made to create a certain feeling in the viewer. With this highly aesthetic medium, the viewer experiences a double effect, because the essay or the comments will drive the feelings, however, the photographs will trigger them. In my research essay, I will introduce Mary Ellen Mark’s Ward 81, a photobook which consist photographs by Mark and the text by Karen Folger Jacobs, with an introduction by Milos Forman. In the essay, I will develop how this photobook fits within the genre of photographic essay and will comment on what are the …show more content…

Moreover, a photographic essay which in this case consists a semi-long essay telling the story of Mark’s visit at Ward 81 and the livelihood of the patients’ every day and this story is accompanied by various photographs, capturing the essence of these patients. 300B-013-16A Not all series of photographs are able to construct a great photobook. However, Ward 81 is a great example of photographic essays with its dramatic art and text combination. Mark’s work is unique because she not only visited the ward to take some photographs, she stayed with the patients over a month to truly understand how their average days look like, what daily activated do they have to entertain themselves and what types of relationships the patients have with the others. Mark had the ability to have a special connection with the patients of Ward 81 and to take various intimate photographs. It does not matter if the viewer reads the essay first or look at the photographs, the effect is very serious. It is impossible to not feel bad for those women and think about the life they had. Photographic

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