Beyond Appearances
Over the summers of 2001 and 2002, Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015) brought a team of assistants and a large-format Polaroid camera to Twinsburg, Ohio, for the annual Twins Days Festival. The resulting series captures the physical similarity, and subtle differences, of identical twins.
Cory Woodall, Assistant Curator at The San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA), explains: âMark engaged the twins in conversation, getting to know them in the short time they had together during the photoshoot. She worked with them in determining their poses and facial expressions. Some are depicted goofing around, whilst others embrace, or are straight-faced. These choices help to communicate the sittersâ personalities and what image they wanted to represent themselves: light-hearted, loving or self-controlled. Later, after the photoshoots had occurred, Mark conducted phone interviews with the twins to better understand their experiences and attitudes. Snippets from these interviews a