OFF POINTE
EXHIBITIONS
Somerset House, London, 2019
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2018
Crane Kalman Gallery, Brighton, 2007
Julia Margaret Cameron Museum, 2005
Royal Opera House, London, 2004
Mary’s first exhibition. Off Pointe is a body of work that came from Mary shadowing the Corps De Ballet from the Royal Ballet over a six month period. Mary wanted to show the world the contrast between the magical, seemingly perfect world of onstage performance versus the real life of gruelling hard work, injury, fatigue and trying to grab some life where they can.
Many of the black and white shots bring to life these contradictions: a muscular male ballet dancer having a cigarette between acts; naked ballerinas drinking Coke in their dressing room at the Opera House, a dancer eating a huge burger after a night of clubbing and a ballerina at an ATM in NY. The photographs avoid capturing the dancers on stage or in rehearsals, steering clear of the well-documented. Image after image serve to underpin the title ‘Off Pointe’. The reality is, in many ways, more beautiful than the perceived image of the dancers, turned from a the “corps” to fascinating individuals through McCartney’s lens.
