Mark Morrisroe

The extraordinarily diverse work of the American photographer Mark Morrisroe has until now mostly been exhibited and discussed in connection with his famous Boston colleagues Nan Goldin and David Armstrong. Like them, Morrisroe documented his circle of friends, whose lifestyles were inspired by punk and bohemia. Mark Morrisroe's short period of creativity in the 1980s was astonishingly productive and stands out because of its individual aesthetic. He captured his friends in painterly portraits and nude photographs; the Polaroid camera became a mirror of his own body, reflecting its illness and decay. During the three years leading up to his death he transferred his photographic experiments more and more To The dark room, where he used pages from porno magazines and X-ray images of himself as negatives. This first comprehensive monograph accompanies the retrospective exhibition at the Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland, 27 November 2010 – 12 February 2011.English and German text.