About Mary Motley Kalergis

Mary Motley Kalergis is an author, photographer and interviewer, whose work bears witness to the bonds that connect individuals, families, and communities.

Her published books include The Documentary Photography of Mary Motley Kalergis: A Fifty-Year Retrospective (Atelerix Press), Foxhunters Speak (Derrydale Press), Considering Adoption (Atelerix Press), Love In Black and White (Dafina Books, Kensington Publishing), Charlottesville Portrait (Howell Press), Seen and Heard: Teenagers Talk About Their Lives (Stewart Tabori & Chang), With This Ring: A Portrait of Marriage (The Chrysler Museum of Art), Home of the Brave (E. P. Dutton), Mother: A Collective Portrait (E. P. Dutton), and Giving Birth (Harper and Row).

Her photographs are featured in numerous anthologies and collections including Aperture’s Mothers and Daughters, Pantheon’s Generations, Stemmle’s In Their Mother’s Eyes, National Geographic’s Star-Spangled Banner, Fawcett’s In Celebration Of Babies, and Andrews McMeel’s Waiting for Baby, Reflections, and The Enduring Circle of Love.

Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; The Burden Gallery and the International Center of Photography in NYC; The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia; The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia; the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, Florida; The San Antonio Museum of Art; The Field Museum of Chicago; the Phaeton Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Museum Fur Photographie in Stuttgart, Germany; and the Diaframma Kodak Galleria in Milan, Italy.

She is the subject of the award-winning documentary short film Seeking the Light: The Work and Witness of Mary Motley Kalergis.

Photographs by Mary have also appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, including The New York Times, People, Time, Newsweek, Glamour, Ladies’ Home Journal, Seventeen Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Marie Claire (France), The Guardian (London), and Camera Manuchi (Japan).

Mary taught at the International Center of Photography and has served as “special stills” photographer on movie sets, including The Long Walk Home and Cousin Bette.