Sally Mann, The Three Generations
Mother as Protector, Mother as Role Model
This image has all the elements of what makes Sally Mann controversial. Mann is supposed to be a role model for her children, specifically her daughters. Allowing her daughter to pose naked and expose her body without shame, even if she’s just a child, suggests Mann is failing as a role model. Perhaps we can understand this as a criticism of how Mann is not setting a good example for how mothers are supposed to protect their children, something society expects and demands mothers to do. Critics accuse Mann of exploiting children by photographing them nude. Many attack Mann as a mother, claiming she has a responsibility to protect children from harm, in this case the eyes of the viewer.
The relationships between nudity, body, motherhood, and sexuality are all central themes in Mann’s work. Women are not supposed to be sexual beings but are expected to be mothers, an ironic contradiction rooted in oppression. When women are mothers, specifically when they are pregnant, their bodies are not regarded as sexual objects, but as holy vessels. Babies are often depicted in the nude, affirming that the presence of motherhood negates the sexuality of the body. As women move farther away from motherhood, they are no longer seen as sexually viable. In this image, the oldest woman is the most clothed, representing her sexual expiration. The other woman depicts the young mother figure, still sexually available as a mother and an object. The girl’s nudity symbolizes her eventual sexualization, noting the societal trajectory forced on women’s bodies, from the pureness of childhood, to the objectification as vessels and sexual beings, to the eventual discarding. The evolution of femininity, from generation to generation, in this photo signifies each mother modeling motherhood for her daughter.