Image Essay by Mark Suits
Artist's Statement
My dear artist friend Donald Langosy suffers from multiple sclerosis and can no longer walk. In 2005, after a ten-year silence, he and I reestablished contact and began to exchange images of our work—my photographs, his paintings—by email. This is when I first found out he’d developed MS. Donald particularly liked the street images I sent him. One day, he remarked, "It’s as if you’re walking for me."
I’ve been sending Donald photographs for seven years now. They continue to bring him great pleasure, while providing me with a positive critique on my growing body of work. This gives my images a poetic place in my own mind they somehow didn't have before.
Able to walk and be in places where Donald cannot, I sometimes feel that Donald, who can paint marvels (which I cannot do), is the one with the ability to see, and I’m the “blind” one. When he’s particularly complimentary about one of my photographs, it’s often an image I took little notice of before. This boils down to the value of human exchange, which is, I suspect, near the heart of art in general.
I’ve begun to organize a series of photography books, Walking for Donald, based on the idea of providing a bridge from ability to disability. The series highlights the concept of creating art to expand the world for those with disabilities, while encouraging normal viewers to keep in mind that we all have various degrees of ability and disability.
Since I live and work in Paris, most of the images are of that city—which, as an American, I still see with curious eyes. However, I’ve also "walked for Donald" in New York City, India, Nice, Archachon, and other locales, and I hope to keep on walking.
My shooting habits are more random than thematic, but in the helter-skelter of my photographs, various themes rise to the surface. The first planned book—which includes the photographs above—is titled Paris Reflections and features images of the city reflected in water, glass, and other surfaces. Other potential image themes include the Seine, Paris cafés, Paris at night, doors of Paris, and graffiti in Paris.
For Paris Reflections, I sent a large group of images to Donald, from which he made the specific selections for the book. We will follow the same process for future books. The series is thus a true collaboration between us—in effect, my legwork and his vision.
Mark W. Suits is an expatriate American living and working in Paris and Nice. He owns a small, funky, and functional photography studio in the 11th arrondissement of Paris and likes to travel.
Mark currently works primarily as a fashion photographer. He previously spent ten years photographing people and events for the French Ministry of Research and Education. To see more of his work, visit his fashion website, his creative arts photography site, or his Walking for Donald project site.
Prior to working as a photographer, Mark studied piano at the Juilliard School and Harvard University and taught piano privately for many years. He is interested in humanity—its cultures and aspirations—and an occasional ski trip ... water or snow.
