Ward 81, Oregon State Hospital,
Salem, Oregon, 1976
“Ward 81” is a photo series taken by Mary Ellen Mark in a mental institution which means that the woman in this photo is a person with mental illness. The artist uses the rule of third which Mary put the woman’s face on the one-third line of this image for composition. Mary also uses the short depth of field to keep the focus only on the woman. I think the artist captured a moment of facial emotion of this woman which successfully implies her mental situation—the audience cannot really tell whether the woman is crying or smelling at first.