Children, landscape, loversthese subjects are almost as common to the
photographic lexicon as light itself. But Sally Manns take on these
iconic themes, rendered through both traditional and esoteric processes,
is anything but common. Astonishingly original both in image and
technique, Manns work consistently challenges the viewer: in her hands,
experiences drawn from daily life are rendered both disquieting and
sublime. Now, having studied relationships between parent and child,
artist and subject, life and death, Manns Proud Flesh investigates the
bonds between husband and wife. Exquisitely detailed, intimate,
psychologically and emotionally intense, Proud Flesh engages territory
most often inhabited by male artists portraying their wives and female
lovers as Mann turns the camera to her husband of 39 years, Larry.
Beautiful, textured, and provocative, these unprecedented nude studies
neither objectify nor celebrate; rather, they go far under the skin to
suggest a relationship between man and woman that is profoundly
trusting: sensual, sexual, sometimes painful, often indescribably
tender, and always unblinkingly honest.