Customer Reviews

Mary Ellen Mark: Twins (Aperture Monograph S.)

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Artist/author Mary Ellen Mark spent two consecutive years setting up a studio on the site of the Twinsburg, Ohio 'twin days' festival', inviting twins to be photographed: Twins provides a collection of startling images which succeed in presenting subtle differences as well as startling similarities between twins. The multicultural representation of twins as well as the inclusion of which twin is older by how many minutes makes these full-page black and white photos exceptional works of art and study.

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.

Haven't most of the rest of us all wondered at one time or another what it would be like to have a twin? It is amazing that two people can look so alike. And we can only imagine that there is a closeness there that most of us never experience in our lives.

Though a picture may not be able to get inside someone's mind, it can sure come close with the right artist and Mary Ellen Mark has an ability to see inside her subjects that is nearly unequaled. And that may be why I find these pictures of twins so compelling. Looking at these twins you cannot help but notice the similarities at first glance. And Mark's poses encourage this: symmetries and mirror images. But this is just a trick that lets her camera look beyond. The more you look the more the differences--wisps of hair, injuries old & new, the twist in a smile--jump out and are moving.

I am a big fan of photographic portraiture and Mark is an expert in the genre. In twins she has chosen a theme that plays to her strengths. I would encourage everyone who loves photography to take a look at her work. And once you've studied these pictures to your heart's content, take some time to peruse the excerpts from the subject interviews at the end of the book. It adds another dimension to what you've seen. All in all, this is a book to add to your art book collection.

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

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.