Interviewed from his home in Mexico CityMarch 3rd, 2011
Photographer Mark Powell, originally from Detroit, has been based in Mexico City the past eight years and will soon become a Mexican citizen. He has shown his images internationally, including at the Brooklyn Institute of Contemporary Art and the New Museum in New York City, the Museo Eco and the Museo Archivo de la Fotografía in Mexico City, as well as in São Paolo, Madrid, Basel, Moscow and Amersterdam. In 2006 he published a book of his photography called Very Important Person and his work was included in the recently published Street Photography Now.
Two other interviews excellently cover Mark’s background and past bodies of work: a 2006 interview on 2point8 and a 2009 interview by Ben Roberts on insig.ht. Mark’s personal site can be found here and his Flickrstream here.
This interview largely focuses on a previously unpublished project which consists of images he has curated from the website “Sexy o No?” On this site anyone can upload his or her photograph to have it voted on publicly for its sexiness, from 1 to 10. Posters can also add text to accompany their image and make his or herself available to be contacted.
Mark Powell: This whole body of work, I’m trying to understand it myself. I just know that I’m attracted to these pictures, directly as photographs, to begin with.
The reason that I started looking at these pictures is that a friend of mine wanted me to do a picture for them for their “Sexy o No?” page. I said what’s this “Sexy o No?” thing? “Hot or Not” I guess the equivalent would be. But in “Hot or Not” there’s a different kind of visual language, I think because of the different cultures involved.
