Tiny, Halloween, Seattle (1983) by Mary Ellen Mark.
Not if, but when you visit the ongoing photography exhibitions at the Norton Museum of Art and the Society of the Four Arts, look for beauty in expected and unexpected places.
The subject of the photographs that make up Norton’s Tiny: Streetwise Revisited does not want us to pity her, but it can’t be helped. A teen should not have to be live off the streets, become a prostitute to survive or rest her pregnant belly on an undressed mattress on the floor. The dark circles that tend to show up later in life should have no place under a young girl’s eyes.
But such is the rawness captured by photographer Mary Ellen Mark upon meeting a 13-year-old petite prostitute going by the name of Tiny in the streets of Seattle. Mark continued to photograph her for the next 30 years, which is why we see Tiny grow old, wider and bear five boys and five girls.
The first piece of the exhibit, Halloween, from 1983, is hard to look at because already there is no spark in the teenager’s eyes. It seems to have been replaced with an extraordinary awareness of how life really works. Then there are her lips, which could have easily drawn a pretty smile if only they had folded up, instead of down. Judging by the lack of smiles in the photos that follow, sadness seems to be their natural state.
By the time we reach the next wall, it is 1985 and Tiny is pregnant with Daylon. Drugs, juvenile detention and poverty follow. So do confrontations with her mother, Pat, who is shown here making a fist while her grown daughter points a finger at her in a warning gesture.
Displayed, for all to see, is not just Tiny’s exhaustion but her thick skin. Those tears rolling down in a shot from 2004 are a sign of relief, not weakness. The long bands she sports lend her a youthful appearance; enough to detect the girl once dressed up as Holly Golightly and sporting black gloves. Ten years later, posing next to her mother outside her trailer, that girl is dramatically gone. No trace of her can be found.
With every black-and-white image, her story becomes a little harder to assimilate. One could argue the arrival of each child brightens the plot and reinforced her armor, but possibly also amplified her struggle. How does she manage? Where do they live? Are the kids well-fed? Suddenly we are very worried about a person we have never met. In that sense, Streetwise Revisited is a good way to find out whether we have become numb or still feel anything in the flesh.
Displayed above the photos are quotes by Tiny that confirm the visual ordeal. One of them reads: “I don’t know what the future holds for me, I mean, I just don’t know because it is so far away. I might not even make it. Anything could happen.”
For a happier end, head to the Four Arts’ Bill Cunningham’s Facades. The 86-year-old New York Times photographer and former resident of Carnegie Hall is known exclusively for capturing the street fashion of the city that welcomed him in 1968.
Most of us learned of “Bill” through Bill Cunningham New York, a 2010 documentary that followed him as he conquered the city’s sidewalks in search of unique and personal street-styles. The Harvard dropout and Army veteran carried out his assignments with a rare modesty nonexistent in the fashion sphere. Did I mention he rides a bicycle? Don’t take it from me. The documentary is part of the exhibit running through Sunday.
Facades features about 80 silver gelatin prints donated by the photographer to the New-York Historical Society’s collection in 1976. He shot more than 1,000 during this eight-year venture that paired female models in vintage outfits with corresponding architectural backdrops. New York City’s brownstones, churches, Gothic-inspired buildings and landmarks such as City Hall and Grand Central Terminal make an appearance.
Grand Central Terminal, by Bill Cunningham.
Two young girls march down the street in 314 East 53rd Street. One looks focused on her destination straight head while the other smiles to the camera. Their tiny umbrellas cannot cover their massive gowns.
Cunningham’s evergreen optimism is evident in each black-and-white shot and his models take their roles to heart, exuding confidence even in the least glamorous settings. In one of many images featuring his friend and neighbor Editta Sherman, the model manages to look regal while framed by bold graffiti in a subway car. We learn that to avoid wrinkling the costumes, the photographer and his models used public transportation. In this 1972 photograph, Sherman is heading to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and given the sitting pose she is somewhat limited in her performance.
Her charisma and willingness to play along come across in another photo where she channels Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in one of Whitney’s own gowns. Sherman poses smiling, her hands on her waist, outside the 1904 Harry Payne Whitney House. She wears long white gloves and a shimmering gown that mimics the concrete pattern behind her.
Think of the show as a fun history lesson that covers the Colonial period through modernism. See the voluminous ample skirts and overpowering hats surrender to straighter, minimalist lines. Notice the change in hairdos and the increasingly revealing ankles and notice the buildings that are missing. Some did not survive long enough to be rediscovered and reappreciated. While you are at it, rethink fashion as a defense mechanism. Cunningham himself believes it is “the armor to survive the everyday life.”
If only Tiny had known that.
Tiny: Streetwise Revisited is on view through March 20 at Norton Museum of Art. Admission: $12 adults; $5 ages 13-21. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays except Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed Mondays. Admission for Palm Beach County residents is free every Saturday. For more information, call 561-832-5196 or visit www.norton.org. Bill Cunningham’s Facades is on view through Sunday at the Esther B. O’Keeffe Gallery, the Society of the Four Arts. $5. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call 655-7226 or visit www.fourarts.org for more information.