Ashley Murch-Sally Mann

Sally Mann was one of the first ever extremely influential female photographers. Famous for her photographs of her children, those picture were raw, real and controversial to many. Causing an uproar and the question of if these pictures were wrong or not. I personally feel Sally Mann did nothing wrong, and her work is pure art. In fact, Sally Mann has always been my favorite photographer because how real, raw and pure her pictures are. The world looks at nudity as something highly inappropriate because it automatically associated with sex. Sally Mann’s main backlash was the fact that she had pictures of her children nude. In reality she was just capturing her children as they went on with their lives, in such a natural state. Brian Yoder asked someone people about their views on nude art and some quotes were “I cant show my kids this” and “Nude means sex”(1). Sally Mann did not looks at her own children as sexual beings. Mann said when she was 17 her father gave her a camera and told her the only things worth photographing were love, death and whimsy(2). So her photographs were exactly that, pictures of her loved ones, naturally as they went through life. When she sat down to photograph she did not say let me take nude, sexual pictures of my children, instead she said let me just photograph my children. Her intent was in no such way in a harmful or sexual way. Just pure. “For years I shot the under appreciated and extraordinary domestic scenes of any mother’s life with the point-and-shoot” Mann says when talking about her work (3). This quote just continues the idea that her photos weren't created to be some pornographic nature, but the art of family, children and love. She made art for herself, not to gain fame. Till this day through all the backlash and hate when Mann was asked if she would do it again she says ““Yes. Yes, and yes, resoundingly, absolutely.” (4) Overall in my personal opinion Sally Mann is an amazing artist. Her work is amazing to me, I find it so unique. She was an artist who didn't just hop onto a bandwagon of that time, she didn't create what the people wanted but what she wanted. Her photos were real and raw, no set-ups. This to me makes her art so much more beautiful ,because she was simply just capturing what she finds as the beauty in her life.

1. https://artrenewal.org/Article/Title/nudity-in-art-a-virtue-or-vice
2. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/model-family-76926283/
3. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-sally-mann-s-photographs-children-viewers-uncomfortable
4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/my-critics-were-in-some-measure-correct-sally-mann-admits-in-memoir/2015/05/08/0b3738f2-f584-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fedcb1e9d422