Where does the line between art and life end? Renowned for her controversial works, photographer Sally Mann’s new book, Art Work: On the Creative Life (Abrams, 2025), tackles this question by blending the most sensitive moments of her career with practical life advice. Mann is not just a photographer but a figure who has championed resilience and artistic honesty throughout her life.
Books offering inspiration and guidance for artists abound, but Art Work: On the Creative Life stands apart. Mann’s signature sardonic wit and poetic grace weave through advice on handling rejection, distraction, and perfectionism, interspersed with grounded tips like a 1971 home remedy list.
Born in 1951, Mann has returned repeatedly to the landscapes of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and photographs of her three children. Her 1992 Immediate Family exhibition, featuring nude images of her children, sparked a firestorm of controversy. This debate reignited in early 2025 with a new legal investigation that led to the removal of those photographs from display.
Through this turbulent “other life,” Mann distills wisdom for mentoring artists. She speaks of chance’s role, like a serendipitous encounter on her first flight when her seatmate (Harry Winston’s son) handed her the keys to his Upper East Side mansion.
But the book is not just about fortunate encounters; it confronts the ethical and political responsibilities of art. Mann recounts pulling 14 photographs of Black men from her 2018 exhibition and her anger at Qatar’s Emir in the early 2000s over environmental pollution she witnessed there. She also addresses contemporary censorship, such as the refusal to publish her work due to Qatar’s human rights record.
How does one handle censorship? When should ties with oppressive regimes be severed? Mann acknowledges these questions lack easy answers but insists artists have a higher duty: “You have an obligation to question, challenge, and dismantle the belief systems your audience holds dear.”
Mann’s book is a manifesto for embracing the complex, overflowing, and challenging aspects of an artistic life. Art Work offers no single directive—only a call to keep working, challenging, unsettling, and resisting.
Book Details:
Author: Sally Mann
Title: Art Work: On the Creative Life
Publisher: Abrams (2025)
Themes: The Artist’s Life, Censorship, Ethics, and the Creative Process
