Taquita Walton and Shykea Benton, Bayview, Virginia 1999

Editor: This is "Taquita Walton and Shykea Benton, Bayview, Virginia," a 1999 gelatin silver print by Mary Ellen Mark. It's strikingly intimate – almost unsettlingly so. The stark black and white photography captures these two young women against a backdrop of everyday domesticity. What's your initial reaction to this image? Curator: My, my, what a slice of life caught in monochrome amber. When I look, I see beyond the surface to those unscripted, unguarded moments where truth peeks through. I like to imagine myself walking alongside these women as they pose, or before, to connect what isn’t apparent to what they feel deep inside. What do you think these faces say without uttering a word? Editor: I see a quiet resilience, maybe? Like they've seen more than their fair share of life's ups and downs, and there’s an unspoken connection between them. Curator: Precisely! The backdrop, the wash day scene—it roots them, doesn’t it? Reminds us life persists, ordinary and relentless. See how the light and shadow play, almost as characters in their own right, giving form and texture to the tangible and untouchable, and everything we hold close to us that will pass like wind, and turn to ash. Editor: Definitely. It's the everyday elevated to something powerful. Curator: Mary Ellen Mark, in her infinite poetic fashion, transforms reality into a raw poem that we’re blessed to gaze upon! It’s intimate, it's real, it’s life—unfiltered. And as we pull back to return, each layer of gray echoes more, whispering secrets into your own heart about memory, and being, and impermanence. Editor: It definitely gives you a lot to think about. Thanks for sharing your perspective! Curator: It's been my absolute pleasure; you are on your way to understanding it all for yourself.