Mel Kobran- Sally Mann Exhibit

In Sally Mann’s exhibit, “The Flesh and The Spirit,” I was really interested in her utilization of many different types of photographs that still functioned to create a show that had a cohesive theme and sense of chronology.

This photo (Untitled) of the decomposing face is one of my favorites of the exhibit. The long exposure needed to produce the image allows the motion blur of the maggots on the face to create an ephemeral haze that makes what is an upsetting and gruesome subject very dreamlike and surreal. This quality is enhanced by the strong contrast in the photo that highlights the decomposing nature of the corpse, but in such a way that increases my fascination rather than my disgust. For similar reasons, the first image of the corpse’s full body really stood out to me. The quality of light in Sally Mann’s photos has this remarkable quality of being stark yet translucently delicate simultaneously. It is this hazy nature, in combination with the imperfections in he large format processing and printing, which make her work so impressive.