"March 16, 1973" from the Daily Self-Portraits 1972-1973
Melissa Shook (1939-2020) was an American photographer, videographer, writer, and teacher based in Chelsea, Massachusetts, best known for her self- and family portraits and documentary-style photography humanizing marginalized people such as immigrants, the elderly, and the homeless, Shook's practice expanded throughout her career to include writing, bookmaking, drawing, sculpture, video art, and social practice. She was a pioneer in exploring identity, motherhood, and interracial families, channeling the spirit of creative freedom and attending the rise of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s.
Her work is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Moderna Museet Stockholm, among other institutions.