Perfect Little Poems
Perfect Little Poems are photographs made over the course of five years in various places. The term “street photography” is inexact—considering the essence of this approach isn’t always about being on the street. These are rather brushes of life, moments pulled from reality that I found poetic. “Documentary photography” doesn’t seem to fit either, since I’m not a journalist, however most photographers are often tied to the facts. Walker Evans put it beautifully when he described William Christenberry’s documentation of the American south as being “like perfect little poems.”
“Dreaming” men are at the beginning and end of this sequence, with many fragments of my vision in between. The work touches on family, relationships, and a variety of environmental designs. Light itself can also be the subject, as in Light on the trolley, Philadelphia (2018), or The Light in Suraya, Philadelphia (2018). The whole spectrum of human relationships interests me the most: lovers, friendships, family dynamics, and so on. I’ll photograph nature mostly on the occasion that it allows me to comment on people. The bulk of this work exists as small prints around 5 x 7 in. Little moments in time that have pulled me in.
List of Works
1. Dreaming man, Philadelphia, 2019
2. Self-portrait during quarantine,
Philadelphia, 2020
3. Vineyard St., Philadelphia, 2018
4. Jagged tree, Cape May County, 2021
5. Wrapped up, Philadelphia, 2020
6. Tires, Cape May County, 2020
7. Crossing the road, New York, 2017
8. Untitled, Philadelphia, 2019
9. The 15 Trolley, Philadelphia, 2019
10. Light on the trolley, Philadelphia, 2018
11. Friends talking, New York, 2019
12. Friends on their phones, New York, 2019
13. Marlow & Sons, New York, 2019
14. The Light in Suraya, Philadelphia, 2018
15. Family by the water, Philadelphia, 2018
16. A gay swim, New Hope, 2019
17. Girls at Made In America,
Philadelphia, 2018
18. Boys at Made In America,
Philadelphia, 2018
19. Coca Cola sign, New Jersey, 2021
20. Stop sign (with shadow),
Philadelphia, 2019
Inquire for prints: m@marcusmaddox.co
21. Steps of Brooklyn Museum, New York, 2019
22. Skater, New York, 2019
23. Jagged tree, Philadelphia, 2019
24. Smoking in Washington Square Park,
New York, 2020
25. Evan on his rooftop, New York, 2017
26. Marin during quarantine,
Philadelphia, 2020
27. Locked bike, Philadelphia, 2020
28. Collecting water, New York, 2017
29. Mourning a death, Philadelphia, 2021
30. I love you, New York, 2019
31. Untitled (wedding), New York, 2020
32. White braid and mask, Philadelphia, 2020
33. Colored only, Philadelphia, 2020
34. Girls speaking french, Philadelphia, 2019
35. Untitled No. 2, Philadelphia, 2019
36. Boys in the street, Philadelphia, 2020
37. Mother and son on the train, New York, 2020
38. Black muslim family, Philadelphia, 2018
39. Storefront, Los Angeles, 2022
40. Dreaming man, New York, 2019