“The danger for documentary photographers is that they become didactic. ‘This is what I saw, so this is what you should think’. In my personal work, I try only to ask questions and in finding a response, the viewer is hopefully in some way enriched.”
- Mark Chew
FUCK LOSS KISS
Shown over four walls, FUCK LOSS KISS is an exhibition of documentary photographs made over a five-year period in the Urban Slums and Refugee Camps of East Africa. The exhibition records the lives of mostly women and children in an attempt to reveal the complexity and diversity of an existence in difficult circumstances.
Making images such as these takes time. Time spent sitting listening, observing and making connections. Some of the people in these photographs I would call friends, as I would the many generous East Africans, who have helped facilitate access to their communities. Returning to the land of my birth, I feel a connection that goes beyond a working relationship. There is a small part of me that will always be African, the same part that obliges me to be honest in every part of my story telling.
Exhibited at Studio Blueboat in Melbourne in 2010 following an extensive trip to Southern India, the worked comprised a series of 12 images created
by layering images shot on 35mm black and white film with the square colour negatives of a Russian Holga camera.
ONE POINT ONE
NILI KOTOKA
Over three million people live in the settlements of Mukuru and Kibera on the outskirts of Nairobi. NILI KOTOKA was first exhibited at FortyFiveDownstairs in September 2017.
In terms of land area to population, they are perhaps the most crowded places on earth. Extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV, cholera and sexual abuse are prevalent, but dignity and perseverance abound.
NILI KOTOKA, (“where I come from” in Swahili) is an attempt to understand how despite the most desperate circumstances, community is fundamental, music permeates all aspects of life and above all, education is cherished.
UNLUCKY FOR SOME
A collection of 13 portraits, was first shown at Studio Blueboat in 2012. It captured some famous (Bob Brown, Julian Assange, Cadel Evans) and some not so famous Australian's, obliquely asking the viewer to asses the fortunes of the subject.
Mr MODI’S
INHERITANCE
This collection of images was made in and around New Delhi in the month prior to Modi’s election victory in 2015.
The social problems he inherited such as poverty, over population, lack of health care, the treatment of women, religious intolerance and endemic pollution seemed almost insurmountable. However, they remain addressed each day by a people with boundless optimism, a dogged will to survive, and an ability to create things of beauty out of the most desperate circumstances. This collection of images was made in and around New Delhi in the month prior to Modi’s election victory in 2015.
The work was exhibited at FortyFiveDownstairs in September 2015,
MURRUP
In early 2025, Mark was commissioned by MURRUP, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation to create an exhibition showcasing the organisation’s
four partner communities.
Travelling from Galiwin’ku and Wurrumiyanga in the Northern Territory, then to Palm Island and Woorabinda in Queensland, the works capture moments from Murrup’s co-designed, community lead programs and were displayed at Gate 8, 88 Jolimont Street, East Melbourne in July the same year.