SALLY MANN
Sept. 23 - Nov. 6, 1999
Untitled, 1998
Tea-toned gelatin silver print
38 x 48 inches
edition of 10
DEEP SOUTH: Landscapes of Mississippi and Louisiana, by Sally Mann. This exhibition was on view from 23 September through 6 November, 1999.
After 12 years of photographing her family, Sally Mann revealed in 1997 a new and unexpected aspect of her talent with the series Mother Land: Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia. In the widely celebrated Immediate Family series, photographs of Mann’s children growing up in rural Virginia, the photographer had already created a deeply personal sense of place. This setting, steeped in Southern mystique, clearly served as more than a mere backdrop. Today with her latest body of work, DEEP SOUTH: Landscapes of Mississippi and Louisiana, Mann brings her densely evocative exploration of the Southern land full circle. These pictures are as much a haunting tribute to the memory-infused beauty of the South as a masterful re-invention of the languishing genre of landscape photography.
In the Mississippi and Louisiana series, Mann delves deeper than ever into the metaphoric nature of the landscape. In one picture, the roots growing above ground of a Taxodium distichum – a natural phenomenon proper to that tree – seem to be executing a strange elfin dance amidst the ghostly vapor of the bayou. In yet another image, a gash on a tree trunk reads as some antique scar, imposing the stamp of memory and history on nature. With these powerfully lyric images, Mann uninhibitedly asserts the profoundly romantic essence of her work.
This vision is sustained by an unrivalled mastery of technique. True to Mann’s exacting standards, the DEEP SOUTH series offers an outstanding demonstration of the photographer’s virtuosity and style. Reviving ancient and complex techniques such as the wet-collodion process favored by early masters of 19th century landscape photography, Mann bends classic craftsmanship to serve the expressive needs of a heightened contemporary sensibility. Artfully orchestrated technical imperfections, such as light leaks or scratches on negatives, echo the accidental, chaotic pace of time. The latest landmarks in Mann’s quest for the "remembrance of things past", the DEEP SOUTH images ultimately read as the superlative accomplishment of a mature artist, revealing the photographer in full command of her art.
After 12 years of photographing her family, Sally Mann revealed in 1997 a new and unexpected aspect of her talent with the series Mother Land: Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia. In the widely celebrated Immediate Family series, photographs of Mann’s children growing up in rural Virginia, the photographer had already created a deeply personal sense of place. This setting, steeped in Southern mystique, clearly served as more than a mere backdrop. Today with her latest body of work, DEEP SOUTH: Landscapes of Mississippi and Louisiana, Mann brings her densely evocative exploration of the Southern land full circle. These pictures are as much a haunting tribute to the memory-infused beauty of the South as a masterful re-invention of the languishing genre of landscape photography.
In the Mississippi and Louisiana series, Mann delves deeper than ever into the metaphoric nature of the landscape. In one picture, the roots growing above ground of a Taxodium distichum – a natural phenomenon proper to that tree – seem to be executing a strange elfin dance amidst the ghostly vapor of the bayou. In yet another image, a gash on a tree trunk reads as some antique scar, imposing the stamp of memory and history on nature. With these powerfully lyric images, Mann uninhibitedly asserts the profoundly romantic essence of her work.
This vision is sustained by an unrivalled mastery of technique. True to Mann’s exacting standards, the DEEP SOUTH series offers an outstanding demonstration of the photographer’s virtuosity and style. Reviving ancient and complex techniques such as the wet-collodion process favored by early masters of 19th century landscape photography, Mann bends classic craftsmanship to serve the expressive needs of a heightened contemporary sensibility. Artfully orchestrated technical imperfections, such as light leaks or scratches on negatives, echo the accidental, chaotic pace of time. The latest landmarks in Mann’s quest for the "remembrance of things past", the DEEP SOUTH images ultimately read as the superlative accomplishment of a mature artist, revealing the photographer in full command of her art.