Welcome to Pho·tog Friday!
In Part I of this special Pho·tog Friday Series on Sally Mann, I focused on her portrait photography which she did throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Although, in the mid-1990's, Mann began photographing the Southern Landscape. Continuing to shoot with her 8x10 Bellows
View Camera, Mann produced two bodies of work based on the Southern
Landscape. The first set of images were in a show titled Mother Land: Recent Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia at the Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York City in 1997. Two years later, Mann had another show at the same gallery titled Deep South: Landscapes of Louisiana and Mississippi. From 1992 to 2004, Mann continued to photograph the southern landscape. In 2005, she published her sixth book titled Deep South.
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| Mann, Sally, Georgia; From the Mother Land Series, 1996. |
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| Sally, Mann, From the Deep South Series, 1998. |
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| Sally, Mann, From the Deep South Series, 1998. |
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| Sally, Mann, From the Deep South Series, 1998. |
As noted in Part I of this series, Mann uses the "wet plate", also known as the "collodian", process to create her images which developed during the 19th century. What is interesting about her images is that the "flaws" that appear in the images from this process. For example, when you look at the images above, do you notice any scratches or smudges?
In between the time that Mann showed her landscape images at the Edwynn Houk Gallery and published Deep South, Mann came out with a book in 2003 that displayed addressed a very different subject matter than her other series. Titled What Remains, Mann's photographs comment on the subject of "loss of life" and "what remains" after death.
There are five parts to this book. The first part includes photographs of her deceased dog, Eva. The second portion of the book shows dead bodies decomposing while being studied at the Forensic Anthropology Facility. The third chapter focuses on a portion on Mann's property in Virginia where an escaped convict was killed. The grounds of Antietam, where one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War was held, is covered in the fourth and the fifth section includes close up portraits of her children.
The images from each section of the book are apart of different series. For example, the images of Mann's dog, Eva, are from a photo series titled Matter Lent:
The images that Mann took at the Forensic Anthropology Facility were part of a series called Body Farm:
In between the time that Mann showed her landscape images at the Edwynn Houk Gallery and published Deep South, Mann came out with a book in 2003 that displayed addressed a very different subject matter than her other series. Titled What Remains, Mann's photographs comment on the subject of "loss of life" and "what remains" after death. There are five parts to this book. The first part includes photographs of her deceased dog, Eva. The second portion of the book shows dead bodies decomposing while being studied at the Forensic Anthropology Facility. The third chapter focuses on a portion on Mann's property in Virginia where an escaped convict was killed. The grounds of Antietam, where one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War was held, is covered in the fourth and the fifth section includes close up portraits of her children.
The images from each section of the book are apart of different series. For example, the images of Mann's dog, Eva, are from a photo series titled Matter Lent:
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| Mann, Sally, Untitled #17, from the series "Matter Lent", 2003. |
The images that Mann took at the Forensic Anthropology Facility were part of a series called Body Farm:
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| Mann, Sally, Untitled #12, from the series "Body Farm", 2000-1. |
The photographs taken on the Battlefield of Antietam are from a series simply known as Antietam:
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| Mann, Sally, Untitled #11, from the series "Antietam", 2000-3. |
The images that Mann includes of her children are from a series titled Faces:
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| Mann, Sally, Untitled #11, from the series "Faces", 2004. |
Given the order of these images, the overall content of the book, What Remains, can actually be viewed as positive. Mann photographs the eternal cycle of life, death and regeneration. These photographs have been displayed at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and have even inspired a film about the series of images tilted What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann.
Stay tuned or Part III of this Pho·tog Friday Series on Sally Mann!
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01. "Sally Mann." Sally Mann. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
02. "Sally Mann." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
03. "What Remains (book)." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, 16 October. Web. 18 October. 2013.
04. "D.C. Diary." Artnet.com Magazine Reviews - D.C. Diary. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
04. "D.C. Diary." Artnet.com Magazine Reviews - D.C. Diary. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.