{"id":2761,"date":"2018-01-14T07:06:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T02:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgauthier.ca\/en\/?p=2761"},"modified":"2018-01-17T02:59:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T21:59:38","slug":"sally-mann-use-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cgauthier.ca\/en\/2018\/01\/14\/sally-mann-use-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Sally Mann, the rectitude and the use of children"},"content":{"rendered":"
Research and presentation: Fran\u00e7ois Sp\u00e9nard<\/h5>\n

Presented to Groupe Photo de l’Anticaf\u00e9 <\/a>on January 11, 2018\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In the wake of sexual abuse reports, our discussion focuses on two well-known contemporary photographers: Sally Mann and David Hamilton. Each of them frequently presented nude young girls, it is important to differentiate the artistic vision that a mother transmits with her children to that of an alleged pedophile. How far can the freedom of creation go? Under the pretext of free artistic expression, can one go beyond the limits of the morality of an era? Our analysis of images will be in the context of the time when they were produced.<\/p>\n

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Sally Mann, born Sally Munger (born May 1, 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, USA), an American photographer whose powerful images of childhood, sexuality and death have often been considered controversial. Mann was introduced to photography by her father, Robert Munger, a doctor who photographed her naked as a young girl. In 1969, as a teenager, she attended Putney School in Vermont. She then spent two years at Bennington College, where she studied with photographer Norman Sieff. Later she will meet Larry Mann, the man who will become her husband. After spending a year in Europe, she graduated from Praestegaard Film School where she studied photography (1974).<\/p>\n

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Sally Mann\u2019s career<\/h2>\n

In the 1970s, Sally Mann made her own artistic journey by creating disturbing images of children intimacy and the passage of time. The work develops around themes that are close to her: portraits – those of her children – and landscapes, which seem timeless and invaded by an exuberant nature and full of symbols.<\/p>\n

The photographer builds her work by exploring themes both personal and universal: childhood, memory, mortality. The images of her three children, which she put together in 1992 in the book “Immediate Family”, arouse controversy while propelling her to the forefront of the American photographic scene. In the dialogue she sets up between her children and the landscape, the latter will gradually take more of the photographer’s time.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Sally Mann’s photographs made headlines for portraying her naked children. Presented through the prism of a dubious “outsider”, Mann appeared as alternately imperious and unconscious of the potential objections that some might have to the presentation of her children in the nude.<\/p>\n

Mann was initially bogged down in controversy after her series of black and white portraits entitled “Immediate Family” was unveiled in spring 1992 at Houk Friedman, a New York gallery. These photographs caused a sensation because they focused on her three children, who often appeared naked and in postures, situations and scene disturbing for some spectators. Some wondered if Mann had exploited her children, while others wondered if the images were of child pornography. Still others have magnificently praised the collection as an honest exploration of the complexities of childhood.<\/p>\n

Launch of the book Immediate Family<\/h2>\n

In the introduction to her book Immediate Family <\/strong>(1992), Mann writes that “many of these images are intimate … but most are of ordinary moments that every mother have seen. I take pictures when they are bloody, sick, naked or angry. With these staged visual explorations, Mann captured some of the darkest images of childhood and raised some thought-provoking questions.<\/p>\n

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