Sally Mann

My friend Claire knows me better than anyone else. I suspect it is because our hearts are carbon copies and she knows if the is affected by something, then I will be too. These images in particular, had a huge impact on me. I think a brilliant photographer is one that brings out emotion with their art. These pictures made me feel so awkward and uncomfortable I could barely look at them. I am a bit shaken and haunted by them.

I dug a little deeper. I really just wanted to know her motives behind producing images of this nature. Turns out, the three young kids she used most were her own children. Her books sparked incredible outrage. The NY Times said, “Probably no photographer in history has enjoyed such a burst of success in the art world."

The main themes of her work is supposed to be family, but others touch on darker themes such as insecurity, loneliness, injury, sexuality and death. She received accusations of child pornography.

Mann herself considered these photographs to be “natural through the eyes of a mother, since she has seen her children in every state: happy, sad, playful, sick, bloodied, angry and even naked.”
Critics agreed, saying her “vision in large measure is accurate, and a welcome corrective to familiar notions of youth as a time of unalloyed sweetness and innocence,”

I don't know. Take only what you need from it.