It is hard to believe that it has been 2 weeks since I last posted. I haven't been slacking off and watching bad television, believe me when I say that sounds fun, but I have been busy. This Relay for Life team has taken me over. I have been making scented eye pillows with almost every free chance I have had. The team is coming together and it is gearing up to be a great time. If you feel like donating anything to help fight cancer you can do so here: Corning ER and Friends.
One of my favorite uses for this vehicle called blogging is to share art. It seems like there is an endless supply and if I were diligent I would still not see everything there is to see in this world. I was driving to work the other day and on NPR Terri Gross was interviewing photographer Sally Mann. At first I was not sure who she was though the name seemed familiar.
Sally Mann is best known for her collection of work called Family. It was controversial at the time of its publishing and is still able to make some folks squirm today. The collection is a series of nude photographs of her children and family. I remember watching a documentary on her about this collection and Michael was with me. He was appalled and likened it to child pornography. He can be a bit over the top sometimes when it comes to such things, but I did have to admit it was disconcerting that she would display her children's naked bodies for everyone to see. I understand it is art, but what about the children. In this NPR interview she spoke about these pictures and stated that they were done with dignity and the children, now adults, are proud of the work they did in these photographs and were proud of it then.
You cannot, however, deny that Sally Mann is a gifted photographer who is in love with light and shadow and the craft that she has spent her life honing. To me the artist is most successful when they can make you slightly uncomfortable because it is in this place, this personal discomfort, that one begins to think about themselves and their relationship to the art. It allows for critical thinking pertaining to what is acceptable to the heart and what is not.
Sally Mann's work is not limited to her family and her other bodies of work deserve just as much, if not more, attention. I was interested to hear that she has a collection called Body Farm. I am currently watching a BBC program of the same name. A body farm is a place where scientists leave corpses in various conditions and study their rate of decomposition for the purpose of forensics. This is often how they can tell when a person died by identifying the conditions and insects found on the body. If you are squeamish then this set of photos may not be for you.
Mann grew up in Virginia and her Southern roots show up in her collection called Southern Landscapes. This collection has a special place in my heart as many of the photographs were taken in Georgia. I had the pleasure/displeasure of living there in my 20's. I lived in the ghetto and I walked everywhere or biked. It gave me the opportunity to become one with the landscape which is slow and green and always ripe with oppression from both history and heat.
Lastly, the collection I would like to display is Sally Mann's Proud Flesh. This series of photos was done to document her husband's struggle with muscular distrophy which increases over time. In the interview on NPR she marked this as her favorite body of work and said that it was the most peaceful and wonderful shoot of her life. She has been with her husband for over 40 years and she stated this opportunity to work with him was a beautiful spot in her marriage. Her hope was to not show his weakness in these photographs but to document the progression of a disease there is no control over. She wanted to catch his strength of character.
If you would like to learn more about Sally Mann you can visit her website. If you would like to hear the Fresh Air interview then you can listen here.
Thanks for sticking with my blog even during the long absences. I hope there won't be too many more of those.
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