Mark Silverberg is a visual and narrative documentary photographer who works with communities and non-profit organizations to support them to view themselves through a strength and asset-based lens. His purpose supports residents shift from an illness and scarcity based community narrative to one based on healing and abundance. This generative storytelling assists the people and organizations I work with to create positive change together.
Mark has documented the Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s Global Trauma Relief Program in Haiti, The Yesod Jewish Community Center in St. Petersburg, Russia for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the El Sistema Cleveland Program, and Neighborhood Connections in Cleveland, OH among other projects over many years. His work explores the intersection between visual and narrative documentary storytelling and asset-based community development. markjsilverberg.com
At the age of 8 I started taking pictures when my Dad got me a Brownie camera. I took pictures of everything my budget for film and developing would allow. At my cousin Judy's wedding in 1961 I took her favorite picture of her mother with my new Instamatic camera. Selma had a soft look in her eyes which revealed her inner kindness, not often shared with others, shrouded behind her veil of formality. Though I could not know it at the time, this image came to represent what I strived for in my photography - to reveal the inner person as they choose to represent themselves, a mirror to their essence.
I am fortunate to participate in the three year mentorship program with Ed Kashi and James Estrin in the Visual Storytelling and Documentary Photography workshop at Anderson Ranch (Colorado). I study and am inspired by the documentary masters - W. Eugene Smith, Eugene Richards, Robert Frank, Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks, Dawoud Bey, Danny Wilcox Frazier, Ernesto Bazan - and am inspired by many whom fame has not yet touched.
I have received my Certification from the Photography Ethics Centre which shows I have studied, take seriously, and have completed the certification requirements. The ethical principles which guide my photography are:
Informed consent and participant voice - I will practice informed consent with the people being photographed and invite their participation and partnership in the process of making photographs. This includes the purpose and intent of the project, and how and where the images will be used. Participant voice seeks to ensure equity, mutual understanding, empower choice and serves safety. If any aspect of this changes in the future, efforts will be made to seek additional consent.
Cultural sensitivity and respect - I will prioritize cultural sensitivity for the values, traditions, and choices of those being photographed to demonstrate respect and serve their safety. I will educate myself about the cultural and historical contexts and people I am working with.
Honest storytelling and representation - I will strive to represent people with honesty and sensitivity and reject stereotypes which objectify and “other” people. I will take care to use visual and narrative language that upholds the dignity and rights of all people.
Social responsibility and positive change - My visual and narrative storytelling will have positive impacts on the people and communities I work with and serve, as gauged by them. My images will support the communities I serve to gain agency, both personally and collectively, to empower them to shape their quality of life. I will practice and use my images and storytelling in a generative, transformational, socially responsible way.
Strength and asset-based lens - I will evoke the assets of people and communities I document through a strength-based lens, affirming their assets and capabilities, resisting victimization and simplification of their lived experience, to grow empathy.
To continually bring my unconscious biases into consciousness.
It's life that fascinates me - people, nature, work, pain, joy, inspiration, hardship. I seek to capture the complex facets of people's lives and to reflect them artfully and honestly.
Feel free to contact me at: marksilverberg@mac.com with comments or questions.
I frequently refer to the lyrics to the Velvet Underground song "I'll Be Your Mirror" to explain what I seek to convey in my images.
"I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don't know
I'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you're home
When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you
I find it hard to believe you don't know
The beauty you are
But if you don't let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid
When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you
I'll be your mirror"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfhZwbMqbkE