PROM: PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARY ELLEN MARK
2012-07-09Between 2006 and 2009, American photographer Mary Ellen Mark visited thirteen high school proms to create portraits of attendees with a 20-by-24-inch Polaroid Land Camera. Only five such cameras exist, and they make extraordinary and unique large-format prints. Mark used the camera previously for her 2003 project Twins, and in Prom she applies it to the quintessential American coming-of-age ritual, selecting high schools from across the country that reflect the regional and class differences among Americans. Approximately sixty of Mark’s portraits are included in the exhibition, demonstrating the egalitarian spirit of her project and the continuing democratic potential of photography.
Exhibition runs through till October 28th, 2012
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia
PA
19130
