Sally Mann: What Remains

Last night I watched  What Remains:  The Life and Work of Sally Mann.  I am always reluctant to meet the artist whose work I love in fear I'll not like them personally.  I braved it with this documentary.  I have a deep respect and compassion for this person.  She is humble, honest and kind.  I got the sense that even though she is a driven artist she is a wife and mother first.  I highly recommend people to see this film.  I will have to admit I was not interested in her later series of images but after having seen this I have a deeper appreciation for it.  It is a film that has educated me more about the art world and how we all struggle with the same fears no matter what level of the social/professional rung we're we have achieved.  Her courage to allow filming of her rejection from Pace/MacGill and her allowing the documentary to show her fears of becoming passe in the art world was healing for me.  Any artist struggling with fears of rejection and the like will benefit from this heart warming insight into this artist's life.  

Also her series What Remains brings to light for me how fascinated I am with death.  Her philosophy behind the series is worth exploring and facing.  After all, none of us gets out of here alive.