The Damm family living in their car, Los Angeles 1987

Mary Ellen Mark took this photograph of the Damm family living in their car in Los Angeles. This image is like a documentary snapshot, but it's also full of sadness and tenderness, and it draws you in. I wonder what it was like for Mark to take this photo? There must have been some kind of awkwardness involved, but her skill brings something intimate to the surface. The black and white tonality gives everything a kind of bleak starkness. It’s so honest, you know? The composition is claustrophobic, we're right in there with them, in their space. Photography is a lot about bearing witness. I guess it's like painting in that way. We have to remember that artists often put themselves in vulnerable positions, and that’s part of the creative process. They have to be open to whatever might come. One artwork is connected to the next.