by Grace McEvoy

As part of the Austin Museum of Art's "New Visions/New Audiences" initiative, a 25-year retrospective of the work of photographer Sally Mann will be on view at the Austin Museum of Art from September 6th through November 8th. Based on the 1994 book Still Time: Photographs by Sally Mann, the 60 photographs on view provide a chronicle of the wide range of styles and subjects this noted photographer has successfully covered as an artist.

Although Mann's work encompasses many styles including abstract, landscape and portraiture, it is interesting to note that most of this work was done in the same place: Mann's hometown of Lexington, Virginia.

On view are early photographs from "The Dream Sequence," a 1970s series on women. They are shadowy groups of figures that have an ambiguous relationship to one another and to the viewer and seem somewhat dated in terms of style. Yet Mann establishes her fascination with girls and women as photographic subjects and develops that theme most successfully in the series "At Twelve." There are several examples from this series and Mann has a gift for capturing girls at this often pivotal stage in life when childhood and adulthood blend in a wide variety of degrees.

Ironically, Mann was once told that she shouldn't be a photographer because a mother can't devote the necessary time, yet she is most well known for her photographs of her children. These beautifully crafted images from her series "Immediate Family" are exceptionally candid given the fact that Mann shoots with a heavy cumbersome view camera that makes 8 X 10 inch negatives. The immediacy of the photographs belies the demands of the equipment. Because many of the photos in the "Immediate Family" series feature her three children as nude models, much attention and controversy followed the publication of the book Immediate Family in 1992. However, this exhibition is an opportunity to put that work in context with Mann's oeuvre and get a more complete understanding of the artist's work.

Beautiful platinum prints give viewers a chance to discover Mann's command of the craft of photography and her interest in still life. It is surprising and pleasing to see her examples of color photography. Of note are large color abstracts of organic objects immersed in and projecting from liquid. The liquid has the visual effect of layers and suggests a dual affinity with nature; of that which is known and unknown. One could spend a long time trying to identify the objects, such as a tongue in one photograph, and still come back to notice something new. Many of Mann's photographs of people have that same quality. Her straightforward portraits often contain elements and relationships that have more implications than what initially meets the eye.

On view in conjunction with the exhibit is the 1993 Oscar-winning documentary by Steven Cantor, Blood Ties: The Art and Life of Sally Mann. Interviews with Mann, her husband and their children reveal the collaborative attitude the family has toward the work in Mann's "Immediate Family" series. It is especially interesting to see Mann at work directing and photographing her children in the ideal setting of the Shenandoah Valley.

This artist's work is surely deserving of a retrospective and it enables viewers to see the threads of themes carried throughout such as nature, family and womanhood as well as elemental forms and abstractions. It is a treat to see the work of a mature yet growing artist.