Sally Mann - American photographer: biography, creativity

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Famous photographer Sally Mann was born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia. She never left her native land for long and since the 1970s she has worked only in the southern United States, creating unforgettable series of portraits, landscapes and still lifes. Many masterfully shot black-and-white photographs also feature architectural objects. Perhaps the most famous works of the American are spiritual portraits of loved ones: her husband and small children. At times, ambiguous photographs brought harsh criticism to the author, but one thing is certain: a talented woman has had an invaluable influence on contemporary art. Since the first solo exhibition at the Gallery of Art in Washington DC in 1977, many photography connoisseurs have been keeping a close eye on the development of this new genius.

Stepping forward

In the 1970s, Sally explored a wide variety of genres, growing up and improving her art of capturing life at the same time. Numerous landscapes and amazing examples of architectural photography saw the light of day during this period. ATIn her creative search, Sally began to combine elements of still life and portrait in her works. But the American photographer found her true calling after her second publication was published - a collection of photos, which is a whole study of the life and way of thinking of girls. The book was called At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women and was published in 1988. In 1984-1994 Sally worked on the Close Relatives series (1992), focusing on portraits of her three children. The kids at that time were not yet ten years old. Although at first glance it seems that the series presents ordinary, routine moments of life (children play, sleep, eat), each shot touches on much larger topics, including death and cultural differences in understanding sexuality.

In the compilation "Proud Flesh" (2009), Sally Mann turns the camera lens on her husband Larry. The publication presents photographs taken over a six-year period. These are frank and sincere images that overturn traditional notions about the role of the sexes and capture a man in moments of deep personal vulnerability.

Ambiguous shots

Mann also owns two impressive series of landscapes: "Far South" (2005) and "Homeland". In What Remains (2003), she proposes an analysis of her observations on mortality in five parts. Here are both photographs of the decaying corpse of her beloved Greyhound, and pictures of a corner in her garden inVirginia, where an armed fugitive infiltrated the Mann family's property and committed suicide.

Sally often experimented with color photography, but the master's favorite technique ended up being black and white photography, especially when using old equipment. Gradually, she mastered the ancient methods of printing: platinum and bromine oil. In the mid-1990s, Sally Mann and other photographers with a penchant for creative experimentation fell in love with the so-called wet collodion method - printing, in which the pictures took on the features of painting and sculpture.

Achievements

By 2001, Sally had already received three National Endowment for the Arts awards, a permanent Guggenheim spotlight, and was awarded Time magazine's "America's Best Photographer". Two documentaries were shot about her and her work: Blood Ties (1994) and What Remains (2007). Both films won various film awards, and What Remains was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2008. Mann's new book is called No Motion: A Memoir in Photographs (2015). Critics greeted the work of a recognized master with great approval, and the New York Times officially included it in the bestseller list.

Works being talked about

It is believed that the best photographers in the world are never associated with any one work or collection; all of themcreativity is embodied in the dynamics of improvement, in following a path that is not destined to be passed. Nevertheless, in the vast work of Mann at the moment, one can easily single out a landmark collection - a monograph, which is hotly discussed even now. This is the "Close Relatives" series, which captures the author's children in seemingly ordinary situations and poses.

The leaving images are forever fixed in the photo. Here one of the children described himself in a dream, someone shows a mosquito bite, someone is taking a nap after dinner. In the pictures you can see how each child strives to quickly overcome the border between childhood and adulthood, how each one shows the innocent cruelty inherent in a tender age. In these images live both the fears of adults associated with the upbringing of the younger generation, and the all-encompassing tenderness and desire to protect, characteristic of any parent. Here is a half-naked androgyne - it is not clear whether this is a girl or a boy - stopped in the middle of a yard strewn with leaves. Spots of dirt are visible here and there on his body. Here are flexible, pale silhouettes with proud ease moving between heavy, broad-chested adults. The images seem to remind of a painfully familiar past that has become infinitely distant and unattainable.

Who is Sally

Of course, it is difficult to judge creativity without touching on the personal history of Sally Mann. Children and household chores are not the main thing in her life; she first of all creates works of art and only then - enjoys routine activities like an ordinary woman.

In their youth, Sally and her husband werethe so-called dirty hippies. Since then, they have retained some habits: growing almost all food with their own hands and not attaching much importance to money. Indeed, until the 1980s, the Mann family barely earned: a meager income was barely enough to pay taxes. Passing hand in hand through all the obstacles and difficulties that life presented them, Larry and Sally Mann became a very strong couple. The photographer dedicated both of her iconic collections ("Close Relatives" and "At the Age of Twelve") to her husband. While she was filming with a fierce passion, he was a blacksmith and was twice elected to the city council. Shortly before the publication of Sally's most famous monograph, her chosen one received a law degree. Now he works in an office not far away and comes home for lunch almost every day.

Extraordinary activity

The best photographers never stop evolving. The same can be said about Mann, but her potential for development has an interesting limitation: she photographs only in the summer, devoting all the other months of the year to printing pictures. When asked by journalists about why it is impossible to work at other times of the year, Sally just shrugs her shoulders and replies that she can film her children doing homework or ordinary household chores at any time - she just doesn’t film it.

Roots

According to Sally Mann herself, she inherited an extraordinary vision of the world from her father. Robert Munger was a gynecologist involved in the birth of hundreds of children. Lexington. In his free time, he was engaged in gardening and collected a unique collection of plants from all over the world. In addition, Robert was an atheist and an amateur artist. He inherited his unsurpassed flair for everything perverted by his daughter. So, for a long time, the famous doctor kept a kind of white serpentine figure on the dining table - until one of the family members realized that the "strange sculpture" was actually dried dog excrement.

The path to the legend

Sally studied photography at a Vermont school. In many interviews, the woman claims that the only motivation for studying was the opportunity to be in a dark dark room alone with her then boyfriend. Sally studied at Bennington for two years - it was there that she met Larry, to whom she herself proposed. After studying for a year in European countries, the future legendary photographer received her diploma with honors in 1974, and after another three hundred days, she added to the growing list of achievements by graduating from her master's program - not in photography, however, but in literature. Until the age of thirty, Mann took pictures and wrote at the same time.

Today, this incredible woman and popular photographer lives and works in her hometown of Lexington, Virginia, USA. From the date of publication to the present, her amazing work has been an invaluable source of inspiration for people of all creative professions.