Sally Mann: Body Farm

I recently stumbled upon the work of Sally Mann, an American-based photographer renowned for her black and white imagery. Over the course of 40 or so years, Mann has consistently provided viewers with disquieting, and often ephemeral moments of every day life. She solidified her place in the photographic world, however, once she published ‘Immediate Family‘ in 1992, which contained several contentious shots of her children nude. Despite this controversy, she has remained an authoritative voice in the medium at large.

In 2010, Mann set her sights on creating ‘Body Farm’, a series of images displaying bodies of varying forms of decay at a federal Forensic Anthropology Facility. As this subject matter directly speaks to my own work, I thought I would create a quick speed painting using one of her photos as a reference. I, in no way, own the rights to this piece–I’m simply using it for educational purposes, and to better refine my digital painting skills. Below is the original, followed my recreation.

Mediums used: Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Bamboo tablet

All rights reserved to Sally Mann.

For more of Sally’s work, click on the following LINK