Sally Mann-What Remains

The video on the life and work of Sally Mann, What Remains, is by far the best art documentary that I’ve ever watched. Throughout the film the viewer get’s a chance to see Mann’s personal experience with photography as well as her series of work on her children and the topic of death. One of the most important messages that Mann get’s across in the film is that the things that are close to you are the thing you’re going to photograph the best. “If you don’t photograph the things you love you won’t make good art.” To me that’s one of the most important things that photographers should realize with their work, especially if you get lost and don’t know what to photograph. In my own work I’ve had to photograph the people that are closest to me whenever I get confused or frustrated with certain themes that just don’t work out, and in the end, photographing my loved ones always turned out satisfactory.

Another point in the film that really caught my attention was Mann’s work with her death series. First off, I love the fact that she’s exploring a topic that most American’s find disgusting and too provocative for the public; it’s like breaking the rules, but with photography. Secondly, I thought it was amazing that she went to the body farm and got a chance to see the natural decay process up-close. The photographs that she took for this series were also really spectacular. There seemed to be a sort of nostalgia within the photographs, almost like the memory of that person was still there and alive. This also relates back to her photographs of civil war battlefields, where thousands of people have died. Mann states that the earth doesn’t care when death occurs, but the artist can come along and make that earth powerful and bring that death’s memory back. This is very true, especially with battlefields and war-ridden lands; a photograph can bring so much energy and nostalgia to the viewer that it makes it almost personal. One last point that I thought was really interesting was when Mann stated that she’s surprised at how many of her photographs actually depend on technical error. This is the concept that I’ve depended on throughout my photography, simply because in the end, those mistakes are one of the things that make those photographs beautiful.

Overall though, I found the film to be really beautiful. I loved how the viewer get’s to see Sally Mann’s personal life and how that greatly influences all of her work. Also, I like how the viewer gets a chance to see Mann work in her environment; taking her large format 8x10 camera out into the field, working with collodion covered glass plates, and even seeing her movable darkroom in her truck. I think she is one of the most beautiful and influential photographers of our time, and I really hope her work inspires and influences students just as much as it inspires me.