Mary Ellen Mark

In this image by Mark Ellen Mark, we have a young boy holding a sick kitten. Formally, we can see this this picture is taken or cropped to a square format with black and white film, and that she is using a shallow depth of field to isolate her subject.

There are many elements in this photograph that indicate that this young boy is impoverished. His hair has been cut unevenly and is disheveled, there is dirt on his face, hands and clothing, he is standing on an unpainted wooden porch with a clothes line descending into the background and is holding an under-developed kitten that was clearly found, not adopted.

What strikes me about this photograph are his gestures and expression- it seems that despite the sickness of this kitten and the state of his own appearance, he is protective and proud. He holds the kitten up with one hand, and balls his fist with the other. His brow is furrowed and his eyes look upwards to the camera. The positioning of his body is an inward sort of positioning; he is not opening himself up to Mary Ellen Mark as a photographer, yet he is offering the view of this kitten as one of his treasures. I would imagine that this portrait was somewhat staged. It seems that he has been positioned in that location and told to display his cat. While being defensive, his expression is also unsure (maybe that comes from a lack of trust, rather than a lack of instruction). To me, this image is a portrait of poverty, of childhood and the representation of a child's since of importance and ownership.