Lecture - Conversations with Sally Mann

I feel fortunate to have had the honor to see Sally Mann at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  The presentation was in the form of a conversation between a panel and Sally Mann, rather than the typical artist presentation.  The panel included leading photography scholars Vince Aletti of the New Yorker and Brain Wallis from the International Center of Photography. Unfortunately, the flight which Melissa Harris of Aperture Magazine was taking was delayed and she didn’t make it. Initially they introduced Sally Mann and talked about connections to other artists, particularly in relation to the controversial nature of Mann’s work.  Mann’s earlier works which involved her children were often argued to be pornographic.  Although still controversial to some people, on a whole people have seemed to get past this, on the basis that Mann was the mother of the children and had seen them in all stages of life. Besides the nudity, there is nothing really pornographic about the images.  The main themes of her work seem to be sexuality, mortality, and vulnerability.  The talk was presented in connection with a collection of her works titled “Sally Mann The Flesh and The Spirit.” The collection featured her newest work, pictures of herself and her husband which comment on  themes of mortality and vulnerability.   It was also mentioned that the pictures of her husband were interesting from the standpoint of the human gaze on the male, which is something not usually touched upon in photography.  One thing that really struck me was just how humble a person Mann really was.  She said making a perfect print with a 8x10 format camera was really difficult, and she was just lazy, so that’s why she used equipment that didn’t function perfectly.   I don’t think this is really true.  I think she uses methods that will enhance her projects' themes. One thing that I thought was interesting was her take on when to release projects and how to never lose motivation.  She said, “Never put out a body of  work until you are one-third of the way into a new body of work.”  She also mentioned that you should have more than one project going at the same time, in case you get bored with one of the projects.  That was interesting to me in relation to my own project, because I’m trying to work on two different projects now and have ideas for other projects as well.  I think this helps me to keep my ideas fresh and allows me to back off from one project if I get bored with it and work with the other.  Ms. Mann said that she draws the line on her work when dignity is lost.  I think that it is important to know when to stop and draw the line, because there are some things which, ethically, should never be photographed.

All Images © Sally Mann