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Mary Ellen Mark
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Mary Ellen Mark: Twins Hardcover – June 15, 2005

by Mary Ellen Mark (Interviewer, Photographer, Contributor)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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Mary Ellen Mark, voted by the readers of "American Photography" as the most influential woman photographer of all time, has made some of America's most iconic images in a career spanning more than three decades. In "Twins," her fourteenth publication, Mark turns her acute eye and her heart to the extraordinary bond that exists between these very special siblings.
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  1. Print length
    96 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Aperture
  4. Publication date
    June 15, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    10.74 x 0.66 x 13.1 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1931788197
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1931788199
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Documentarian Mark captured the late Mother Teresa working among the starving sick of Calcutta, and her portraits of Central American factory workers and the underclasses of Appalachia and U.S. inner cities have combined empathy and insight. Now Mark goes all Diane Arbus on us in her new book of twins shot in 20 x 24 black and white Polaroid format, stunningly reproduced. Shot during 2001 and 2002 "Twins Days" festivals in Twinsburg, Ohio, site of the annual U.S. convention for twins (and triplets), subjects were pursued and herded into a darkened tent built to Mark's specifications by a large crew. The book begins with a pair of young girls in what looks to be the bygone costumes of the Gish sisters in D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms, and the air of the antique and the unsettling rarely lets up. One elderly man stands before the camera holding a photograph of his late twin brother. A father in cop uniform drags a wagon built up into jail bars to carry his twin daughters, dressed in cute jailbird costumes. The same dad in Hawaiian tourist garb exhibits the same girls the following year as hula maidens in leis and grass skirts. Mark's tent-show approach inevitably leads to questions of exploitation and voyeurism. She attempts to let her subjects have their own voice, printing brief excerpts from a thousand pages of transcribed interviews. This section disappoints, as we learn little about the individual twins other than that some of them share private languages and others like to use their twinness for pranks (we learn that the 27-year-old men she photographed in matching boxer shorts like to trick girls into having sex with both). Mark, queen of female photographers, has a steady following, and this new project deepens her legend in disturbing ways.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Perhaps the most influential and wonderfully unsettling female photographer of all time, Mary Ellen Mark does a double take in Twins." -- Elissa Schappell --Vanity Fair

"In Mark's often-stark black-and-white photographs, the misunderstood, the self-destructive, the unnoticed and the sidelined confront the viewer, dating the world to turn away but not begging for pity. Mark comes from a generation of photographers who believe cameras can be used as a force for change." -- Tyrone Beason --The Seattle Times

"Mary Ellen Mark's portraits of twins have to be seen to be believed." -- Russell Hart --American Photo

"Mark, queen of female photographers, has a steady following, and this new project deepens her legend in disturbing ways." --Publishers Weekly

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aperture (June 15, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1931788197
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1931788199
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.76 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.74 x 0.66 x 13.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

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Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark

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Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Macaccus Rhesus
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic series by a great master!
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2021
Verified Purchase
Mesmerizing pictures, simple idea almost everybody pondered while seeing twin acquaintances. So many twins, so many subtle differences and so much likeness.
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David Liscio
5.0 out of 5 stars Mary Ellen Mark a strange but interesting bird
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2007
Verified Purchase
Any photographers looking for a book theme should study this one, which, obviously, focuses on twins. Why? Because it's much more than an assemblage of photos of twins. For instance, one shot shows a pair of handicapped twins who just happen to have as their day nurses another set of twins. There are other equally interesting shots in the book that make it worth having on your shelf.
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Michael Bruchas
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought it after seeing and hearing Mary Ellen Mark at the Look 3 Festival...
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
Her husband also shot a film on the filming of the project.

Bought the book cheap and passed off to a friend who is a twin...
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Jamie Pilgrim
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing portrait book
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2009
To the ninety-eight percent of the population who is not a twin, we often are curious about how twins cope with being known as a pair. Despite being different people, they grow up always having each other to relate to. It forms a bond unlike any that typical siblings are able to form.

Mary Ellen Mark's fascination with twins has inspired a remarkable portrait series. Traveling to Twinsburg, Ohio, for their annual "Twins Day" festival allowed her to photograph hundreds of twins. In the two consecutive years Mark visited the festival she used a complex set-up for the seemingly simple aesthetic. Every detail is captured through the Polaroid 20x24 camera Mark used. Between the camera and dynamic lighting every wrinkle, toned muscle, body hair, and freckle is visible. Using the studio, all attention of the festival is lost. Instead the attention is given to the twins themselves. A thoughtful decision that emphasizes Marks pure interest in her subjects. The final pages of the book are dedicated to bits of conversation Mark collected after shooting the photographs. Each fragment from the conversations revels more about each pair connecting the viewer even more with every photograph.

As part of the festival, participants dress alike emphasizing their already very similar appearances. Their outfits give us a glimpse of the personality and lifestyle traits each set shares. It apparent that a majority of the twins are aware of the camera and Mark takes it a step further by posing several of the sets to accentuate their costumes and relationships. The only sense of individuality is provided through the facial expressions and stances of each twin. Even that allowance of distinction is not always utilized, leaving them looking entirely identical.
2 people found this helpful
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Caitriona Reed
5.0 out of 5 stars Difference and Sameness
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2011
Twins is as compelling to me as almost any book of photographic portraits I have seen .. Nagel, Sander, Arbus .. and is a perfect example of the ability of the camera, in the right hands, to go beyond representation. You can usefully pour over these images of apparently identical human twins for hours, to explore the layers of difference, emotion, experience, all the traces that life leaves as evidence of living.

It brings to mind Jean Cocteau's statement that after the age of 30 a person is responsible for their own face. On these 20x24 Polaroids every nuance of that responsibility is made clear.

If you have any love of
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Top reviews from other countries

marmitelover
5.0 out of 5 stars :)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
I love Mary Ellen Marks work and this was the first book of hers i got. I am very happy with it the book is made well and the photographs are of high quality and printed beautifully. The only negative point i have is that its did fill a little repetitive as i flicked though, other than that a great item :)
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S.Kent
5.0 out of 5 stars Twins!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2017
Verified Purchase
Just ... Mary Ellen Mark...
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