Abide With Me, from the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings

In the early 2000s, Sally Mann continued to reflect on how slavery and segregation had left their mark on the landscape of Virginia and, in turn, shaped her own childhood. Abide with Me, a video featured in the exhibition, Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, explores these entwined histories. This video is accompanied in gallery by Mann’s photographs which imagine the physical and spiritual pathways for African Americans in antebellum and post-Civil War Virginia: the rivers and swamps that were potential escape routes for enslaved individuals and the churches that promised safe harbor, communion, and spiritual deliverance. The presentation also includes photographs of Virginia Carter, the African American woman who had served as Mann’s primary caregiver. A defining and beloved presence in Mann's life, Carter taught Mann the profoundly complicated and charged nature of race relations in the South. The final component is a group of pictures of African American men rendered in large prints (50 x 40 inches) made from collodion negatives. Representing the artist’s desire to reach across "the seemingly untraversable chasm of race in the American South," this video frames these powerful photographs as Mann’s exploration of her own position in the fraught racial history of the region.
Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

[@bobgruner]

I grew up with a woman who worked for my grandparents, the way that Virginia Carter worked for Sally Mann's family. She was not my primary caregiver because we only spent summers in North Carolina, but I think of Eileen all the time.

[@darrendavy4248]

Sally mann's photographs are incredible, sensative, beautiful and moving, Sally herself seems very caring and sincere in her approach to her subjects. This is what photography should be about, as she said you should be photographing the things you care about.

[@enriquelopez9124]

Mrs. Sally Mann is a pro, all her work is spectacular, and in each picture she does 5here is a story behind it.

[@camhan1151]

Love her work so much. Couldn't believe I only found her recently

[@filibertkraxner305]

What a moving documentary. Having read "Hold Still"and seen her hauntingly beautiful images, it's so interesting to watch this. She's definitely responsible for causing some soul-searching within me.

[@slavopecuch7942]

you should also definitely watch the documentary What Remains.

[@juliealovesart]

Powerful photographer.