I thought we might start with a reprise of a blog post that we wrote after the release of her book "Hold Still"....the post below is from May 2015...pictures are omitted “I like to make people a little uncomfortable. It encourages them to examine who they are and why they think the way they do.” Sally Mann Today's discussion centered around Sally Mann and was led brilliantly by Jim Staub and Charles Edwards. Starting with her early life and her relationship with her eccentric father who, by the way, photographed her naked as a child. A picture of the young Sally Mann (not naked) is below: Her education focused at first on writing then ultimately on photography. She moved to the family farm after her son was involved in a non-fatal accident. Here was able to ensure her privacy. During the summer months, her child frequently were allowed to wander without clothes and she began to photograph them and develop her artistic aesthetic...which, by the way, was not just limited to her children but the physical environment of the rolling hillsides. Her books, At Twelve (1988) and Immediate Family (1992), created a storm of contraversy and discussion surrounding the use of the children and posing them without clothes. Despite this, her work continued to win her acclaim in the photography world. Her other subjects included...her southern roots (Deep South, 2005) and her husband who was diagnosed with Adult Muscular Dystrophy... She has also looked photographically at decaying corpses at the FBI center for forensic research, leading to her photographic essay, What Remains 2003. More recently an article in the New York Times Magazine (April 15, 2015) prompted more discussion regarding her artistic intent and its place in the art and cultural world and prompted rather personal assaults on her personally and a flashpoint in the cultural wars of art. Worth the read...here is link: http://nyti.ms/1OGx8VP The open discussion at the meeting on Mann's work lead us in several directions including the genre of photographing young children in various stages of undress...eg Jock Sturges; the relationship of subject to photographer; the ability to show such work in the public domain; the effect and influence of cultural mores; the staging of her work esp with using a view camera; her technical skills as a fine art printer; and the influence of her children's choices as they got older. The discussion also focused on the distinction between pictures that are just sensuous vs salacious vs frank pornography...and would we display her work at Jones considering the public nature of its business. And finally, should we as artists (photographers) produce work based on our artistic vision and integrity or should we pander to public opinion. I think the consensus was to produce from your artistic view...and the public can decide visual and artistic value. We ran out of time and would have liked to show the Sally Mann -Charlie Rose interview...here is link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQShT_eToY0 This discussion today is in preparation for our visit to the Getty to view their exhibit of Mann's work. Our discussion was far ranging and included the influence of her childhood, family, husband, and the South. We also talked about her detachment from her subjects but we agreed it was better described as "aesthetic distance." We discussed her use of old techniques eg collodion coated plates that almost always led to some accidents in her final prints. We then discussed her work as exploitation as witnessed by the pictures of her children, husband, and African-American models she used. We discussed her use of poetry with her work an example of which is her use of Walt Whitman's poem "I sang the body electric"...and with that we were off to the Getty. We were lucky to have Joe's daughter, Emily as guest on our trip to the Getty. Emily is a budding journalist and writes for the Canyon News....below is her review of the exhibit Emily Loudermilk on Sally Mann at Getty Don't forget the documentary on Amazon "What Remains"
1 Comment
Jim Staub
12/5/2018 09:37:20 am
It should be added in Bill's richly covered blog, on the subject of Sally Mann and her photography, that Charles Edwards had equal duty in research and presentation at our most recent f8 Salon. Beyond Charles's scholarly recitation he provided Exhibit A, a tintype of a deceased child, the momento mori tradition of depicting the departed through the medium of photography which links to Ms. Mann's 'What Remains' project.
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