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Mary Ellen Mark’s Last Workshop: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The beloved photographer’s final Oaxaca Workshop wasn’t picture-perfect, but the parting photobook it produced outshines, and will outlast, bad memories
The cardboard package was on the landing inside the front gate when I arrived home from an afternoon shoot. I took it inside to the kitchen and slit the packing tape with a paring knife. It was the photobook from the most recent Oaxaca Workshop.
There was Mary Ellen on the cover of the book.
In the portrait, Mary Ellen is seated, facing to her right. A dog lies at her feet, his head raised and cocked slightly, his eyes looking into the camera. A large shawl covers most of Mary Ellen’s body. Only her head, her braids, a bit of her legs and her feet are visible. A large lump appears beneath the shawl on the left of her body. It is the cast on her broken wrist. She wears sandals. Her toenails are painted black. Her feet appear to be large for such a tiny person.
“In the photograph, I see the sickness. I see the frailty. I see the weight she carried, the knowledge that her time was running out.”
