Nudity And Death In Classical Art By Sally Mann
In the great tradition of classical art, nudity and death have been two main themes of the masters. Sally Mann’s photographs twist this tradition when the nudes are her prepubescent children and the corpses are real people. The issue is that her photographs are a lense into unfiltered actuality, and consumers question the morality of the images based on the fact that children and corpses are unable to give consent. Her work feels too personal and too private. Mainly, issues are brought up that question privacy and if Mann compromised her children’s safety, if Sally Mann’s photographs are even art, and the ethical meanings of consent and nudity explored in her art. Through careful examination it can easily be decided that Mann’s photographs
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Woodward explains that “it was he who instilled a shameless attitude toward the flesh in his daughter, photographing her nude as a girl” which inspired her blithe disregard of nudity as a taboo at a later age. Nudity has been a natural thing in her life since she was born. Her father was a country doctor who saw a large amount of death and gore on a daily basis, and his children bore witness to this as well. He encouraged her to live as freely as she wanted on their large farm in the South. The South is an eccentric and free place, and her unhindered fascinations with death and nudity were allowed to blossom. Her father “gave her a camera when she was 17 and told her the only subjects worthy of art were love, death and whimsy,” and this was the point of no return for Sally Mann. The statement of her father is why she has captured her children, her husband, and the bodies of strangers in such vulnerable states. It is only natural to her. Nudity is beauty, and it is not something to be ashamed of. The point of Mann’s efforts are to illustrate that grotesqueness and bare skin can be whimsical and exemplary of beauty. All of these ideas that were instilled in Sally Mann in her childhood were instilled by her into her own children. The most important issue is how do the children at the center of this controversy feel about being so exposed? Surprisingly, they are completely supportive of it all due to the open mindedness given to them by their
Woodward explains that “it was he who instilled a shameless attitude toward the flesh in his daughter, photographing her nude as a girl” which inspired her blithe disregard of nudity as a taboo at a later age. Nudity has been a natural thing in her life since she was born. Her father was a country doctor who saw a large amount of death and gore on a daily basis, and his children bore witness to this as well. He encouraged her to live as freely as she wanted on their large farm in the South. The South is an eccentric and free place, and her unhindered fascinations with death and nudity were allowed to blossom. Her father “gave her a camera when she was 17 and told her the only subjects worthy of art were love, death and whimsy,” and this was the point of no return for Sally Mann. The statement of her father is why she has captured her children, her husband, and the bodies of strangers in such vulnerable states. It is only natural to her. Nudity is beauty, and it is not something to be ashamed of. The point of Mann’s efforts are to illustrate that grotesqueness and bare skin can be whimsical and exemplary of beauty. All of these ideas that were instilled in Sally Mann in her childhood were instilled by her into her own children. The most important issue is how do the children at the center of this controversy feel about being so exposed? Surprisingly, they are completely supportive of it all due to the open mindedness given to them by their