What Remains --- Sally Mann

What Remains 

Sally Mann

As one of the world's preeminent photographers, Sally Mann creates artwork that challenges viewers' values and moral attitudes. Described by Time magazine as "America's greatest photographer," she first came to international prominence in 1992 with Immediate Family, a series of complex and enigmatic pictures of her three children. What Remains--Mann's recent series on the myriad aspects of death and decay--is the subject of this eponymously titled documentary. Filmed at her Virginia farm, Mann is surrounded by her husband and now-grown children, and her willingness to reveal her artistic process allows the viewer to gain exclusive entrance to her world. Never one to compromise, she reflects on her own personal feelings about mortality as she continues to examine the boundaries of contemporary art. Spanning five years, What Remains contains unbridled access to the many stages of Mann's work, and is a rare glimpse of an eloquent and brilliant artist.
Sally Mann's powerful new body of work explores mortality, both the separation of the body from the soul and the scars left behind in the process. Mann masterfully utilizes the wet-plate collodion technique to convey her vision in both visceral and ethereal terms. She photographs the implied spirits of a Civil War battlefield, the physical processes of decomposition at a forensic site, the disfigurement to her family land as the result of a police chase, her skinned greyhound, and her now-grown children. This is Mann's first major book in several years. Watch for the HBO special on her life and photography that will air later next year.