What’s a photographer that bothers you? I was introduced to Sally Mann’s photography a few years back and have been scared the FBI have been tracking me ever since. Truly morally compromising work to display on the internet.
JFC I haven’t been able to look at her work since. Just very uncomfortable weird shit.
Rotting skulls, if I recall. Taking nude pics of her kids and putting it on the internet. Just wtf.
I felt vindicated when I found she was considered controversial when I read an OP-ed in the NYT archives highlighting her controversial work and people asking for full on arrest.
And yet for whatever reason her work still sticks with me and captivates me. There’s a good video on YouTube that highlights what makes her so shocking but also what makes her so good. There’s an elegance to her work in the midst of the uncomfortable feelings. It’s hard to digest.
Here’s the video:
Her kids consented as adults and helped choose the pictures which went in her book. Mann’s family was very open about nudity so when she photographed her kids that’s just how they were. You also have to remember these were film photos, self developed, and as I recall they weren’t taken with intent to share with a wider audience at that time but were only later selected for the book (once her kids had grown up and all their own say in which images were used).