Sally Mann’s Photographs Seized
Texan authorities have confiscated multiple works by photographer Sally Mann from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, following allegations that her images featuring nude children might be considered pornographic. The photographs in question include The Perfect Tomato, Popsicle Drips, The Wet Bed, Another Cracker, and Cereus.
What Were the Photographs All About?
Created in the 1980s and 90s, the photographs portray her children in their youth, which has now ignited the issues of ‘paedophilia’ and ‘child rape’. These photographs were part of the group exhibition, ‘Diaries of Home.’ The show which runs until 2 February 2025, showcases the creations of 13 women and nonbinary artists; all investigating the complex ideas of family, community, and home through documentary photography.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth cautioned that the exhibition includes mature themes that may be unsettling for certain viewers. Sally Mann has consistently asserted that her children were fully aware and consenting participants in the photo-taking process, acting more as collaborators than mere subjects of her art.
A Timeline of the “Child Pornography” Case
Although the exhibition began in mid-November, Sally Mann’s photographs reportedly became scandalous before Christmas, when The Dallas Express’ staff writer Carlos Turcios published an article with the headline “Exclusive: Is the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Promoting Child Porn?.” He was tipped off by a “conservative” local. The articles made waves as they led to a chorus of outrage from conservative groups and politicians.
Since then, Carlos Turcios has written several follow-up pieces. In his coverage, he likened the photographs to ‘images of nude children and LGBTQ+ themes.’ These led to a police complaint against the museum and the removal of Mann’s works. The issue is being investigated.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth on The Photographs
A spokesperson for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth wrote, “An inquiry has been made concerning four artworks in the temporary exhibition Diaries of Home. These have been widely published and exhibited for more than 30 years in leading cultural institutions across the country and around the world.”
Judge Tim O’Hare on Sally Mann’s Nudes
Tarrant County Judge Time O’Hare talked to The Dallas Express, where he noted, “There are images on display at this museum that are grossly inappropriate at best. They should be taken down immediately and investigated by law enforcement for any potential criminal violations. Children must be protected, and decency must prevail.”
National Coalition Against Censorship On Sally Mann’s Photographs
The National Coalition Against Censorship condemned the photographs’ confiscations. They stated, “The allegation that these works are child-sexual-abuse material is not just disingenuous, it is deeply dangerous to the freedom of the millions of Americans who wish to document the growth of their children without the threat of government prosecution. Furthermore, it assumes the perspective of the paedophile, and degrades the seriousness of real incidents of child abuse.”
An Isolated Incident or Art Censorship?
The current scenario echoes previous conflicts surrounding cultural conservatism and art censorship. However, this is not the first occasion Sally Mann’s images of her unclothed children on their Virginia farm have been labelled “child pornography.” Some of her images from the series Immediate Family faced similar scrutiny shortly after they were first captured over three decades ago.
In a 2015 essay for The New York Times, titled, The Disturbing Photography of Sally Mann she called her kids “visually sophisticated, involved in setting the scene, in producing the desired effects for the images and in editing them…I gave each child the pictures of themselves and asked them to remove those they didn’t want published.” She added, “All too often, nudity, even that of children, is mistaken for sexuality, and images are mistaken for actions.”
She continued in the New York Times essay, speaking, “The image of the child is especially subject to that kind of perceptual dislocation; children are not just the innocents that we expect them to be… But in a culture so deeply invested in a cult of childhood innocence, we are understandably reluctant to acknowledge these discordant aspects or, as I found out, even fictionalized depictions of them.”
Julie Trébault on The Removal of Photographs
Julie Trébault, executive director of Artists at Risk Coalition (ARC) spoke of the “legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ content, threats to public funding, and public campaigns that mischaracterize art as obscene or harmful. This growing wave of censorship, which disproportionately targets women, LGBTQ+ creators, and artists from historically marginalized groups, often relies on the construction of controversy as a pretext for a wider purge of targeted artwork.”
Image – Sally Mann’s ‘Candy Cigarette‘; Courtesy – Reddit
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