Five Sally Mann Photographs Removed from Texas Exhibition

Five works by American photographer Sally Mann (born 1951) and accompanying wall texts have been removed from a group exhibition, “Diaries of Home,” at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. The authorities described these works as “child pornography” due to the nudity of the children photographed and opened an investigation.

Opened in mid-November 2024, the exhibition, curated by Andrea Karnes and Clare Milliken, presents works by 13 women and non-binary artists. Exploring “the multi-layered concepts of family, community and home”she had caught the attention of Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare and other officials who reported in the newspaper Dallas Express what “Some of the images exhibited in this museum are, at best, completely inappropriate (…). They should be removed immediately and investigated by law enforcement for any potential criminal offenses.”. A complaint was subsequently filed with Fort Worth police regarding the works Popsicle drips, The Perfect tomato, The Wet bed, Another Cracker et Cereusleading to their seizure.

In response to this seizure, the museum expressed its incomprehension by indicating that these works had been “widely published and exhibited for over 30 years at leading cultural institutions across the country and the world”.

This “censorship” has been widely criticized by the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of 50 organizations based in the United States, which says that “The allegation that these works constitute child sexual abuse material is not only disingenuous, it is profoundly dangerous to the freedom of millions of Americans who wish to document the growth of their own children without the threat of prosecution by the government. Furthermore, it takes the pedophile’s point of view and devalues ​​the seriousness of real incidents of child abuse. »

This is not the first time that Sally Mann’s work has been the subject of controversy. The artist became known for her series “Immediate Family,” published in 1992, in which she photographed a lonely childhood in a rural setting in black and white. The same year, author Richard B. Woodward published an article in the New York Times entitled “The Disturbing Photography of Sally Mann”. Richard B. Woodward questioned the artist’s intentions and indicated that a federal prosecutor had informed him that some of his works could be subject to seizure.

In an article published in the New York Times in 2015, the artist responded that images representing children had too often been the subject of perceptual distortions, nudity being too often confused with sexuality.

Born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, the artist has exhibited her work since 1973. She has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is represented by the Gagosian gallery.

The “Diaries of Home” exhibition is on view until February 2, 2025, but Sally Mann’s works will not be on display while the investigation is ongoing.