artist 3/14 Sally Mann

Sally Mann

Sally Mann is a photographer from Lexington, Virginia who mainly concentrates on the black and white image. Originally starting with her children as the main subject. Her work is controversial for the fact that she uses her children as the subjects, often nude, which makes the general public uncomfortable. Maybe that's why I love her work. For pushing people from their comfort zones into a space that they are uneasy about. I wish, however, that instead of criticising her work they would instead reflect on themselves and find out what they are doing/thinking that makes them uncomfortable.

Mann's work is beautiful, but kind of sad. It captures a nostalgia of childhood and mixes innocence with suggestiveness. It leaves the viewer confused as to how they should react and if their reaction is appropriate... and I love that about her work. The piercing stares of her children draw you into the image in a way that I have not found very often in art. You can't help staring back and becoming transfixed. Maybe that is where the discomfort comes from. I want to create the same kind of c captivity in my work, though without directly addressing the audience as her work does. I also want to be able to make people relate to my work and also feel uncomfortable when looking at it. Like they were not supposed to witness what they are viewing.

"I think the South depends on its eccentrics," she says one summer afternoon on the back porch as Jessie and Virginia weave in and out of the house. (Emmett is away at camp.) "It loves them, and it rewards them in lots of ways. This community allows itself to be scandalized by me and by my work, but they love it. What else would they do if it wasn't for me? I take being iconoclastic sort of seriously. It's my role here."

The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/27/magazine/the-disturbing-photography-of-sally-mann.html?pagewanted=3. 1992. Web.