Mark Chester Goes to the 'Loo'—And Takes Pictures of It

The intrepid photographer finds a humorous new area of exploration: public restrooms.

Mark Chester, at the Cape Cod Museum promoting his new book and photo exhibit.

Mark Chester, a nationally acclaimed photographer and a contributor to Tilting West, has a new exhibit of his photographs on display at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, Massachusetts.

The exhibit, entitled “Loo-Loos: Restroom Gender Signs,” focuses on the signs you see that tell you which bathroom to go into when you’re out in public at a restaurant or movie theater or some other location. Why would a person whose work has appeared in books as well as the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and many other prestigious publications take pictures of public bathroom signs?

The answer is that Mark is a man who appreciates laughter and humor, and you see some pretty funny stuff outside restrooms. Such as this sign he spotted in Japan that points the way for possibly confused Americans:

And these Asian wooden signs—

Or these two directional markers with a nautical theme, slyly referring to the anatomical differences between females and males.

“Several years ago I began documenting bathroom gender signs in restaurants, libraries, cinemas, public buildings, and other locations,” explains Mark, who lives in Woods Hole on Cape Cod, not far from Martha’s Vineyard. “They aren’t the commonplace letters M or F or words spelling out ‘men, women, ladies and gents’ on doors. Rather, they are bathroom art and humor.”

He makes it a point “to search out a restroom wherever I travel. I scope out my surroundings, taking note of public restrooms or a nearby restaurant or hotel.”

What makes Mark different than most other people who do the same thing, however, is that he always has a camera close at hand. He shot this stylish male-female pairing and close to 200 others in the exhibition with a Canon PowerShot point-and-shoot digital G7X camera.

What attracts his eye to these images, besides their humor, is their creativity. Some approach the level of popular art. This one has a Sam Spade-Dashiell Hammett-1930s Maltese Falcon feel to it.

His career as a photographer has taken Mark around the world. Needless to say, whatever country he is in, he goes to the bathroom. His interest in toilet signage has made him something of an expert on the subject of public restrooms in general.

For instance, he can cite statistics from the Public Toilet Index—just the fact that he knows such a thing exists, puts him a cut above most. The index can tell you the country with the highest ratio of public restrooms to population in the world. That is Iceland, with 56 for every 100,000 people.

Compared to that, the U.S. is in the crapper, with only eight public toilets per 100,00. If you are in Madison, Wisconsin, however, you're in better shape: 35 per 100,000. That city has the best public restrooms-to-population ratio in the country.

People smile when they see artful and humorous restroom signs, such as these two with men’s and women’s shoes—

And these two characters—

But Mark argues that there are important health and sanitary reasons why attractive signs should be encouraged: “Seeing artful signs instead of the manufactured boring ‘Men’ or ‘Women’ signs brings an awareness to the universal concept of a restroom. There is a need for hundreds, thousands more in metropolitan cities and everywhere else.”

He supports an organization called PHLUSH, an advocacy group that lobbies governments to install more restrooms in parks and other public places, as well as improving toilet and sanitation systems. He is also a strong believer in gender neutral facilities.

Whatever you feel about that issue, you have to hand it to the makers of one restroom sign he saw. Advising people on the need to wash their hands after doing their business, it made absolutely sure not to leave anyone out:

“Whatever. Just Wash Your Hands; All; Anybody. Everybody: Humans.”

Mark will be speaking at the Cape Cod Museum Thursday, June 26, at 11 a.m.. The exhibit will run through August 10. An accompanying exhibit of his work, “Mark Chester Photographs: Sublime to Ridiculous,” is also being presented. It includes images from two of his books, Twosomes and Roadshow Anthropology. There are also plans to publish a book on the Loos-Loos exhibit with an introduction by Roy Blount, Jr.