DISPATCHES

Reader Feedback on "Nole Me Tangere: The Family Photographs of Sally Mann"

Children allowed to be real, free and natural. This is rare.
--Leaf
09/27

I am Southern Baptist Minister's wife and about as right wing conservative, in the religious not political sense, and have taken nude pictures of my children. I certainly would never publish them without their permission, but if they gave permission and anyone would publish them, it would not be child porn because they are not posed or intended to be sexual. There are perverts a=out there, but they are called that because they take what is naturally beautiful and "pervert" it. I think it might be useful to consider that Sally Mann uses a 100 year old camera, so the expressions and poses are going to be somewhat frozen, making them appear more "haunting" than they would be if taken with a pocket camera. They are also more beautiful than a snapshot. She is capturing and preserving moments of beauty, and then sharing them. I think that is okay.
--CLC
08/01

I THINK MRS. MANN IS A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER. I WISH I WAS THAT GOOD. I WANT TO THANK HER FOR HER GREAT PICTURES.
--B.E.
07/10

note to physcian woman. PHYSICAL abuse is far from what sally mann is doing. if there is physical evidence that the child is hurt, then OF COURSE something should be done about it. your analogy is well weak. the point being, do the children feel threatend or harm in anyway? children, like adults are only human being and they can feel the same way we do. surely their point of view is more important than YOUR reactions / assumptions. [oh and ur ivy league point: alright alright i noe ur proud but as a person with real intelligence should know that such information shouldnt give you any more credit than my 70yr old nan. ur education status doesnt make you a saint or a person with the best morals on the page or any where else. save it] the images presented by mann portrays 1. her artistic talent 2. a sort of fondness for her children that any mother would show whether physically or on paper and in no way sexual. and dare i suggest such a 'proposterious' idea that: most mothers HAVE seen their own kids naked. if you see these photos as indecent, then mayb there is something wrong with the way YOU've experienced the photographs or simply the way you see the world. and not others, certainly not Mann's. nudity, in the context of a mother / child relationship is surely the most natural thing in the world? the poses are not exactly graphic. i mean. get some education. pick up a copy of playboy and THEN compare it to Mann's work... i can see a world of difference.
--Hoys
02/11

Hello. I am a photo student and am to interview a photographer. If anyone may have any information about how I could go about interviewing Sally Mann I would love to hear your info. Tanks. raisetherooftmt@yahoo.com
--tmt
10/16

Ditto Ms. Oxenhandler, I'm a life-long dyed-in-the-wool liberal democrat and avid supporter of the NEA. As well, I couldn’t really care less what you and the rest of the free world admire in 'Sex and Art'. Nor do I care what happens in the privacy of your own home (except for the abuse of children when it is presented to me). However, when you have the cold audacity to publicize nude photos of your little children, then you are distributing child porn, as the abuser being yourself, with the victims being your own babies. Yeah, call me a prude! I'm a recently graduated Ivy League trained physician/scientist. What am I to do the next time a child presents with signs/accusations of abuse? Should I say? "Oh well, they simply may be the victims of some 'expressive' artist...so it's OK". I agree with Ms. Oxenhandler,in that the childrens expressions hit a primal fight-or-flight response in me; these pictures make me nauseated! I can almost assure you that your children will need years of cognitive therapy, with a plethera of intimacy and self-esteem issues. Have you forgotten the laws of the land that protect our children? Or merely disregarded them for your definition of "Art's sake"? I will remind you that Western civilization assumes protection, both historically and currently, of the rights and dignity of our children. Obviously, your children have been victimized (BY YOU) for material good, such as: money, drugs or even the promise of fame for yourself. Or maybe you would simply do anything for 'attention'? THE LAW IS 18 YRS! This is the legal demarcation. A little child should feel solice and security in the home; it's your responsibility to provide that! If you like for them to run around naked in your home...that's your own business. But, why share their little bodies with the rest of the world????? Then it becomes our business! MS. MANN, YOU ARE A SEX OFFENDER OF YOUR OWN CHILDREN!
--JRS
10/13

Chill out!!! Sally Mann is an excellent artist. She has inspired me to contiue shooting b/w photos although I'm not nearly as devote to photography as she is I think her photos captures the side of childhood and child raising that few dare to show. The real stuff, the moment where you don't care what any one else thinks. Those who are sick and twisted they see that which they want to. As for the truely sick and twisted if they are that way way...they'll see it wherever they look.
--rr
09/12

Just found your article on Sally Mann's Family Photographs - an interesting viewpoint. When I first saw them - on a TV program - I was quite taken by the rawness of the children's faces. As a former schoolteacher, I thought she had beautifully captured the innocence/savagery dichotomy of childhood. Children are not young adults and it is unfortunate that so many well-meaning people bestow adult virues and vices on children. Children are so different in thought, actions and emotions that sometimes they could be taken for a separate species - indeed certain Australian Aboriginal tribes treat their children as if they are just that - alien species! In my opinion Sally has perfectly captured that wild innocence. I wish I had been brought up in a family like that!
--BD
05/30

Most photographers of nude children. distort reality. Firstly, most photographers of nude children ignore children's wide range of emotions. Anne Geddes tells ust that infants and toddlers are always cute, innocent, and adorable. That's not true. David Hamilton tells us that adolescent girls are always dreamy and misty-eyed. That's not true. Secondly, most photographers of nude children isolate children from the rest of the human species. Graham Ovenden tells us that preadolescent girls live in a paradise all by themselves. That's not true. We are all in the human species together. We all feel both joy and sorrow. We all have romantic needs, stag needs, parental needs, and filial needs. To meet those needs, men, women, boys, and girls must interact with men, women, boys, and girls. None of these four groups, then, should be set apart from the rest of the species and awarded special status or attributed with supernatural attributes. Psychological problems come from false beliefs. A person can seek perennially cute children or perennially blissful girls who don't exist. A person can yearn for a child's paradise which doesn't exist. Geddes, Hamilton, and Ovenden probably can't drive a person to the shrink's office single-handedly, but they can certainly help. I propose nudist photography as an alternative. In a nudist magazine, no child is ever mounted on a pedestal, endowed with a halo and wings, or posed looking heavenward in reverie. Rather, men, women, boys, and girls interact with men, women, boys, and girls.
--GS
04/12

My opinion about peoples observances and commentary about art is that it says more about the person making it than the art or the artist. I think most people don't need a critic or commentator to tell them what they think and the ones that do are probably having enough trouble with life as it is. I suppose it's a need to feel important or to get agreement that what you think is valid; that's cool, I can see that but really..., most critiques or commentaries cant be answered in one of two ways, "yeah I agree", or "That's bullshit". As for Noles commentay - What a load of shit... My commentary on Nole is he or she is one sick puppy and Might be fun to hang out with.
--SDO
01/14

NICE
--I.N.
02/04

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