Fallen Child
Sally Mann
1989
Photograph/Gelatin silver enlargement print
18 3/4 x 23 in
18 3/4 x 23 in
I chose this image to show first, because I feel that it is least similar to those below. The image here by Sally Mann reminds me of the idea that children are innocent, universal, and natural beings. I feel that many adults believe that childhood is a time of innocence and purity, and have created misgivings about the capabilities of children. While almost all of Sally Mann’s portraits of her children provide us with a perspective of childhood that is contrary to what our culture has created, in that they show children as capable of moving and being in adult ways, I feel this one is both similar and dissimilar. The child here (Mann’s daughter) is sprawled across the ground, appearing as almost one with Earth, with the outer edges of the photograph blurred and her tiny body sprinkled with grass. So in one sense, the image conforms to the constructed ideal of child as pure and innocent, having no influence by adults, but on the other hand, it could be a disruptive view, because it could just as easily be representing the fact that this is a myth; that this child, though fitting in her landscape, will not continue to grow in this pure a way. As Ted Mann puts it on the the Guggenheim Museum online collection however, "Mann's photographs of her children are at once specific and universal", therefore conforming to the idea I do not agree with; that childhood is a universal developmental stage which is predictable (Guggenheim). However, the image speaks in multiple ways. At the same time, Mann has said, "We are spinning a story of what it is to grow up. It is a complicated story and sometimes we try to take on the grand themes—anger, love, death, sensuality, and beauty" showing me that she does understand that the idea of childhood is constructed by the adult world (Guggenheim).
Exhibitions: Online Collection at The Guggenheim.
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