“Photographs open doors to the past, but they also allow a look into the future.” Sally Mann
Artists can find inspiration anywhere, but it was a severe horse-riding accident six years ago that catalyzed Sally Mann to create her latest series, “Upon Reflection,” opening tomorrow night at Edwynn Houk Gallery.
Banged-up and physically incapacitated from the accident, Mann did what any artist impelled to create does: she looked within. Unable to carry around her large format camera, Mann took self-portraits whose reflections go deeper than the surface of her skin.
Choosing to use a mid-19th Century historical printing process, ambrotype, (with her own modern modifications) Mann’s handmade prints are a metaphor for her own recovery. These images are blurred, scratched, pitted, grainy, over/under exposed—all providing an organic reflection of an important artist who has never shied away from revealing the depths of her own psyche. —Lane Nevares
