http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/the-cost-of-sally-manns-exposure.html?_r=2
"What an artist captures, what a mother knows, and what the public sees can be dangerously different things."
Its about at an artist who has published innocent images of her children growing up in a remote area and her children have enjoyed the freedom at times of nudity with no shame or embarrassment and have seen this as a natural thing, which it is
However her publication of these images in a book created much controversy both those in support, those against and those completely shocked.
When I read this article I almost straight away published a post in our OCA group as I felt it captured what my immediate thoughts were and this would likely also have been a similar response tome for those who contacted Mann directly or indirectly with their own personal thoughts of what she did.
Here is what I posted:
"It’s
a very interesting article and photography has always been about pushing
boundaries Thanks Richard for the link and Holly for her interesting comments.
Its a shame that today's and likely yesterday's world is fraught with dangerous
people interested
in many things including children, and childrens' innocence is continually
stolen from us.
As a parent your prime concern must always be your children and
exposure in this way of their images, no matter how innocent, to the world will
always incite a reaction of some kind. I wonder given her sleepless nights and
increased security and wariness that this freedom she shared has in fact
shackled her further than her family would have been had she not done this.
Newton said "for every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction" and I can't help feeling that this reaction should have been
expected, not from the public in general, but from the dark areas where we know
many people exist. Whilst we should always remain vigilant and protect our
freedom, we should always been mindful of our actions and likely reactions.
Whilst Mann has been brave in publishing images of innocence in youth, for me
personally raising the profile of her children is this way to the inhabitants
of the dark recesses in our world was a very foolish and selfish activity where
her children's safety has been put at risk, rather than herself.
In a perfect
world what Mann did should be looked at a very normal thing to to do but our
world is far from perfect. In response to Holly above I think sane and normal
people are very able of understanding where this division is and unfortunately
there are a minority who cannot, a sickness perhaps or a lack of morals and
sanity. Just today I read an article about a migrant and a 9 year old child and
my heart sank reading it and I am again reminded of how careful we must be with
our precious children."
Its created a good debate and also one within myself. How far should one go to push boundaries, display a personal voice, create controversy, display innocence ?
In some ways I feel Mann is very brave and in others very foolish. I think my final thought is that the reaction to Mann's work highlights the varied world we live in and that danger often lurks not very far away and often where it can't be seen
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