Hector, Jessica, and Pablo Sanchez playing cops and robbers at a HELP USA site, Bronx, New York 1993

Mary Ellen Mark made this photograph of Hector, Jessica, and Pablo Sanchez playing cops and robbers at a HELP USA site in the Bronx, New York. Mark’s social documentary photography has this incredible ability to capture fleeting moments, and the tonal range in this black and white photograph helps to highlight the subtleties of shadow and light as the children play. The composition draws you in, your eye jumping from the texture of the brickwork to the bare skin of the children, and the shadows that play across the concrete. I think of Diane Arbus and the way she captured everyday lives to reveal something deeper about the human condition. There is something so simple in this image of childhood play, yet something so complex about the nature of play itself, and its relationship to reality. Ultimately, Mark doesn't offer us any easy answers. Instead, she invites us to reflect on the complexities of life.