Sally Mann is a well-known photographer, famous for her nostalgic yet haunting black and white prints. She started off by photographing her young children and eventually moved on to the subject of landscapes. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding some of her earlier photos due to the amount of nudity she includes of her children. What do you think? Are some of these in bad taste?
Personally, from what I saw, her photographs are very hit or miss with me. I think some of them are so beautiful and all of them have great lighting. That said however, I feel some of her photos, specifically with her children striking bizarre poses completely naked are creepy, and dare I say borderline child pornography.
ReplyDeleteThough I was never personally shocked by Sally Mann's work, I can see how some people find the photos of her nude children racy at first. Having said that, I would try not to let the nudity of the children get in the way of appreciating her talent. Her images are strikingly detailed and incredibly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like the pictures of her naked kids. I think they're very innocent and beautiful, not pornographic. The one of the three girls peeing is hilarious, if a little bit strange.
ReplyDeleteI like the work also. The book of this series has a partial quote from Emily Dickinson about "stories told slanted" which I think really sums up the work. They are stories about childhood, but also fabrications. She used an 8x10 in camera, twice as big as the ones we are using so the images were performances for the camera, not spontaneous moments. I also agree that they can be hit and miss. In some the kids are overacting a bit. I think the real complaint about the work was not that the images were pornographic, but that they exposed her kids to a , "pedophilic gaze." In other words, one could look at them in a certain way. Still I think the work is very strong, really her best work.
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