Mark Laita’s Soft White Underbelly Boldly Confronts The Human Condition
Enter the world of Soft White Underbelly with caution and respect. What you are about to watch, hear, see and absorb may change you forever. This content will make you think differently. Laita’s intimate, moving interviews display a side of humanity most of us have never seen or have ever wanted to see. He challenges the idea that those on the outskirts of society should be cast off, ignored, rejected and unheard. He gives voice to the absolute bottom of American class structure. He allows us to hear what we thought shouldn’t have a voice.
“You have these conversations in the death zone, and you live and die by them.”
As stated before, enter this world slowly. The conversation below with Brian Dickinson on his climb up Everest provides excellent gateway into Laita’s interviews.
If you want to go deeper and deeper into the Soft White Underbelly you can. With over 6 million subscribers, the channel has touched many and educated many about the plight of of the human condition. There’s beauty in finding the deep similarities despite outward differences. You may find yourself looking and thinking differently than the interviewees. But look closer and you’ll see we all have blemishes both inward and outward.
“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone.”
You’ll find yourself rooting for the psychiatric nurse Clarisse in the interview below. It’s another slower entry into the abyss of the channel. She’s a deeply moving character that displays love so painfully raw, yet crystal clear and bright.
Growing up in two of America’s hardest cities, Detroit and Chicago, Laita discovered photography at the age of 15 and gave his life to the art. In his teens, he documented Chicago’s homeless and then earned degrees from Columbia College and the University of Illinois/Chicago. Mark went on to a highly successful commercial photography career that quickly burned him out and stunted his growth as an artist. In 2006, his Los Angeles exhibition “Created Equal” foretold the beginnings of the Soft White Underbelly and his work documenting the lives of countless humans on Skid Row in LA.
““At the heart of this collection of portraits is my desire to remind us that we are all equal, until our environment, circumstances or fate molds us and weathers us into whom we become. America’s extremes seem to be getting more severe.
The chasm between the rich and poor continues to grow; the clash between conservatives and liberals is stronger than ever; even good and evil seem more polarized. Created Equal attempts to remind us that we are all connected, no matter how separate our paths may be.””
So you here you go, your real introduction into the Soft White Underbelly. Meet Rebecca. An artist that Mark has interviewed and documented many times. It’s so raw. The videos will cause you to really feel. I invite you to feel it. Whatever it is.
Mark’s been accused of creating poverty porn. I’d argue the recent Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson “fight” is more poor sex for money than the art of Mark Laita. Start to think for yourself and open up your mind. Everyone doesn’t understand art, and everyone doesn’t like or appreciate the same art.
Divorce attorney James Sexton is a favorite of mine on the youtube channel. Whether you like it or not, he has an undeniably blunt, yet true perspective on relationships. His conversation together with psychologist Orion Taraban is fast paced ride on a freight train of truth.
So there it is….the gateway in to the Soft White Underbelly. Be careful. You can watch interviews with drug lords, pimps, in breeds, prostitutes, rapists, murderers, sex slaves, swingers and so much more. Protect yourself against harm and protect your mind. Watch a few of these videos, and you clearly see that we are all the same and we desperately need each other to survive and improve.
“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”