The famous photographer Sally Mann was born in 1951 in the city of Lexington, Virginia. She never left her homeland for a long time and since the 1970s she worked only in the south of the USA, creating unforgettable series of shots in the genre of portraiture, landscape and still life. Many masterfully shot black and white photos feature architectural objects. Perhaps the most famous works of the American are inspired portraits of loved ones: her husband and young children. At times, ambiguous photographs attracted harsh criticism, 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 enthusiasts have been vigilantly monitoring the development of a new genius.
Stepping forward
In the 1970s, Sally studied a variety of genres, growing up and at the same time improving her mastery of capturing life. During this period, numerous landscapes and amazing examples of architectural photography were released. In a creative search, Sally began to combine elements of a still life and a portrait in her works. But the American photographer found her true vocation after her second publication was published - a collection of photos, which is a whole study of the life and mindset of girls. The book was entitled "At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women" and was published in 1988. In 1984-1994 Sally worked on the series "Close Relatives" (1992), focused on portraits of her three children. Kids at that time were not yet ten years old. Although at first glance it seems that the series presents ordinary, routine life moments (children play, sleep, eat) to the audience, each shot touches on much larger topics, including death and cultural differences in understanding sexuality.
In Proud Flesh (2009), Sally Mann transfers the camera lens to her husband Larry. The publication contains photographs taken over a six-year period. These are frank and sincere images that turn over the traditional concepts of the role of the sexes and capture a man in moments of deeply personal vulnerability.
Ambiguous shots
Mann also owns two impressive series of landscapes: "Far in the South" (2005) and "Homeland". In the collection What Will Remain (2003), she suggests analyzing her five-part mortality observations. Here are photos of the decaying corpse of her beloved Greyhound, as well as pictures of a corner in her garden in Virginia, where an armed runaway criminal entered the Mann family and ended his life by suicide.
Sally often experimented with color photography, but the master's favorite technique in the end was a black and white photo, especially using old equipment. Gradually, she mastered the old printing methods: platinum and bromo oil. In the mid-1990s, Sally Mann and other photographers with a penchant for creative experiments fell in love with the so-called wet collodion method - printing, in which the pictures seemed to acquire the features of painting and sculpture.
Achievements
By 2001, Sally had already won three prizes from the National Endowment for the Arts, was constantly in the spotlight of the Guggenheim Foundation and was awarded the title of "Best Photographer of America" ââaccording to Time Magazine. Two documentaries were shot about her and her work: Blood Ties (1994) and What Will Remain (2007). Both films became laureates of various cinematic awards, and the project âWhat remainsâ was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2008. Mannâs new book is entitled âWithout Motion: Memoirs in Photographsâ (2015). Critics met the work of a recognized master with great approval, and the New York Times officially included it in the bestseller list.
The works that are talked about
It is believed that the best photographers in the world are never associated with any one work or collection; all their work is embodied in the dynamics of perfection, in following a path that is not destined to become passed. Nevertheless, in Mannâs extensive work at the moment, one can easily single out a landmark collection - a monograph that is hotly debated now. This is a series of "Close Relatives" that captured the authorâs children in seemingly ordinary situations and poses.
Outgoing images are forever fixed in the photo. Here is one of the children described in a dream, someone shows a mosquito bite, someone snoozes after dinner. In the pictures you can see how each child seeks to quickly overcome the boundary between childhood and growing up, how everyone shows the innocent cruelty inherent in tender age. In these images live and the fears of adults associated with the education of the younger generation, and the comprehensive tenderness and desire to protect, inherent in any parent. Here the half-naked androgyne - it is unclear whether this is a girl or a boy - stopped in the middle of a leaf-strewn courtyard. On his body here and there spots of dirt are visible. 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 upon Sally Mannâs personal history. Children and household chores are not the main thing in her life; First of all, she creates works of art and only then - enjoys routine affairs, like an ordinary woman.
In her youth, Sally and her husband were the so-called dirty hippies. Since then, they have retained some habits: grow almost all food with their own hands and do not attach much importance to money. Indeed, until the 1980s, the Mann family barely earned: scanty income was barely enough to pay taxes. Passing hand in hand through all the barriers 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 Twelve Years Old") to her husband. While she was filming with fierce enthusiasm, he was engaged in blacksmithing 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 very close by and comes home almost every day for lunch.
Extraordinary occupation
The best photographers do not stop developing. This can be said of Mann, however, its development potential has an interesting limit: she photographs only in the summer, devoting all the other months in the year the pictures were printed. When asked by journalists why it is impossible to work at other times of the year, Sally only shrugs and answers that she can take pictures of her children at any time for doing homework or usual household chores - she just doesnât take it off.
Roots
According to Sally Mann herself, she inherited an extraordinary vision of the world from her father. Robert Munger was a gynecologist who participated in the process of giving birth to hundreds of Lexington's children. In his free time, he was engaged in gardening and gathered a unique collection of plants from all over the globe. In addition, Robert was an atheist and amateur artist. Unsurpassed instinct in relation to everything perverted, he passed on to his daughter. So, for a long time, the famous doctor kept on the dining table a kind of serpentine figure of white color - until one of the family members realized that the âstrange sculptureâ was actually dried dog excrement.
Way to the legend
Sally studied the art of photography at Vermont School. In many interviews, the woman claims that the only motivation for studying was the opportunity to stay in a dark development room alone with her then boyfriend. For two years, Sally studied in Bennington - it was there that she met Larry, whom she herself proposed. After studying for a year in European countries, the future legendary photographer received a diploma with honors in 1974, and after another three hundred days - she added to the growing list of achievements by graduating from the magistracy - not from photography, however, but from literature. Until the age of thirty, Mann simultaneously took pictures and wrote.
Today, an incredible woman and a popular photographer lives and works in her hometown of Lexington, Virginia, USA. From the day of publication to the present moment, her amazing works serve as an invaluable source of inspiration for people of all creative professions.