Or to give it its full title Art Work: On the Creative Life by Sally Mann
How much did I like this book? A lot, it was an easy 5 stars for me, although I wasn’t super familiar with Mann’s photography before starting the book (I recognised some key pieces), I will be seeking it out more in future.
So the book is an amazing collection of letters mostly between Mann and Ted Orland (these were so good I ended up buying his book ‘Art & Fear’ after finishing this one!) and sort of memoir, of her creative practice over the years, a mix of rejections and successes, which were both equally inspiring. One of my favourite quotes that hit hard is “The measure of artistic success is not money; it is time. And you must regulate it…” which is something I need to remind myself every day. The whole book is full of witty observations along with snippets of wisdom that inspired me and left me in awe of this amazing woman who juggled making art with everything else life threw in her path.
I’d recommend this book to any creative – you don’t need to be a fan, another photographer or even an artist to get something from this book.
One of the other things that I really enjoyed was learning about how certain images and series came to fruition (or didn’t), I honestly am impressed at how she managed to get her children to be such good models (the children in my family, hell even the adults I struggle to direct for photos, maybe that’s why I prefer landscapes?) as they are familiar faces in several series of Mann’s, along with technical information and mishaps. But essentially its the raw honesty that shines throughout the book. I received a digital review copy from Netgalley but would love to get my hands on the shiny hardback with the larger scale images one day for a good scrutiny.
Culturenator 