Sally Mann Documentary Response
After watching the documentary, "What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann", I have to say that I didn't really know how to react. My first impression of Mann is that she is a "weird" woman, and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this is a bad or a good thing but hearing her talk about photography and the work she's done lets me see that she has an "odd" way of thinking about and seeing photography. I don't know a lot about photography so I can't really tell you if her work was good or not but I can say that if you're not ready for it her work can definitely make you uncomfortable. She doesn't seem to be very traditional with her work/photography which is quite interesting to see and just hear the reasoning of why she chooses to take certain images. When she was talking about the children's nude and the death series she made and how people didn't want to see her work, while also getting all this hate and backlash, it made me feel incredibly sad and sorry for her because despite me agreeing and being part of that group who wouldn't really want to see her work still can understand how she feels and can see how horrible this must of felt. This is something she worked hard on, and despite people's beliefs she wanted to show others something she trusted was good and deserved to be seen by the world but having people instantly judge her and not give her work a chance is totally devastating and can totally take a toll on someone. Some of the things she said are things I can agree with and that truly made me think a little deeper. The way she also talks about her work is inspiring since it shows she can be vulnerable just like everyone else and she encourages others to see that no matter how much judgment you may receive and no matter if people don't think your work is good enough you still need to push through and make art no matter what, especially since this is something you love and something we do for ourselves. Despite feeling a little uncomfortable in some parts this documentary was still really interesting to watch and fun to hear/see someone else's perspective/knowledge of what photography is and/or looks like.
