Author Archives: Mindy Kristt

Posts by Mindy Kristt

Comments by Mindy Kristt

"I was also very intrigued by this photograph because of the unusual distressed overlay and the blurred face. Sally Mann does seem to have a haunted expression on her face, although the details are difficult to discern. Perhaps she was expressing her feelings about her past. Mann grew up in the South in a family with quite an interesting history of deceit, scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, money, murder, and racial complications. In order to express these feelings and reflections about her own family, Mann utilized the wet collodion process to add the disruptive shadow across her face. This shadow and other imperfections in the photograph lend themselves quite well to the creation of a haunting, yet somewhat enigmatic piece. Although the shadow covers one eye and the other is blurry, I still find Mann’s stare to be quite piercing. Unlike the clear, striking photographs of Matthias Olmeta, Mann’s photograph conveys her emotions through the one eye and its distressed surroundings. I also like that this photograph seems to pull you both in and out – the shadow across her face makes you want to come and take a closer look to find out what’s underneath it, while the blurriness of the face makes you want to take a step back to get a clearer picture of her entire face."
--( posted on Sep 26, 2016, commenting on the post Howard Greenberg Gallery: Untitled (Self-Portrait) )