Sally Mann Analysis

Sally Mann is an American photographer who is greatly known for her immense black-and-white photographs. In 1951, Mann was born in Lexington, Virginia, and she always remained close to her birthplace. During the 1970s, Mann began photography career in the American South. She started producing a series on portraiture, architecture, landscape and still life. "She is perhaps best known for her intimate portraits of her family, her young children and her husband, and for her evocative and resonant landscape work in the American South (gagosian.com, unknown)." Between 1984 and 1994, Mann worked on her most known, series, Immediate Family (1992), as stated before, that emphasized her three children all under the age of ten. Throughout the series
The start of this controversy is that most of her photographs are either of her children with clothes or without, in poses that can look sexual, morbid or both. Multiple of her photographs include her girls with no clothing and a blank expression on their face, sort of depressed. For example, one photo Mann has taken of one of her girls, is a girl with completely no clothes laying on a couch, staring right at you. This photo would be sort of disturbing to many people but it is very unique and interesting. It feels as though the girl is looking straight into your eyes, so it seems as though you are in some way with her. Another example of a photograph she took of her family is a picture of two girls, one turned around while the other is holding a cigarette, and once again looking straight at you. This photograph really catches your attention because you feel pulled in by the girl's stare. Again people might depict this photo as disconcerting because the young girl is holding a cigarette which usually has a bad connotation. Also the girl looks depressed or miserable. In conclusion, Sally Mann's work is extremely interesting but makes the viewer feel depressed because it seems like you are connected to the