This book accompanies an international traveling exhibition of pictures by the acclaimed American photographer Mary Ellen Mark, made during the summer of 2006, and depicting disabled school-aged children in Reykjavik, Iceland. Most of the 70-some photographs were made at special schools, often during swimming lessons, but some were also made at the childrens’ homes. Deeply moving, poignant, sad and joyous, these photographs take us into a reality that adjoins our own, but is very seldom seen. The pride and fear, the sheer effort, that Mark captures in these intensely human studies, can be difficult to bear. In addition to Mark’s work, this volume contains 15 photographs of the empty schools by renowned Icelandic photographer Ivar Brynjolfsson, as well as 20 paintings by the children. Over the past three decades, Mary Ellen Mark has achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous books, exhibitions and editorial magazine work. She is a contributing photographer to The New Yorker and has published photo-essays and portraits in such publications as Life and the New York Times Magazine.