Texas Police ‘Seize Photographs’ From Sally Mann Exhibition

Police have reportedly seized Sally Mann photographs from an exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, after a complaint was made about her images.

Mann is one of the most famous photographers of her generation. Her work revolves around family and she is best known for her intimate photos of children which receive both acclaim and criticism.

It is these images of children that have sparked the controversy in Fort Worth after some of them were reported to local police. According to a report in The Dallas Express, a warrant has been issued and executed with the images taken away from public display and secured as evidence. PetaPixel has reached out to the museum and Forth Worth police but neither responded as of publication.

Mann’s work is part of a wider exhibit titled Diaries of Home which, according to the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth’s website, “features works by women and nonbinary artists, who explore the multilayered concepts of family, community, and home.” The exhibit hosts 13 documentary photographers including Mann whose work the museum describes as “intimate and compelling.”

However, after a reporter from The Dallas Express visited the exhibit and accused the museum of “promoting child porn”, authorities have begun attacking Mann and the museum. The online newspaper shared photos of Mann’s work displayed at the museum that show a naked girl jumping on a table and a boy with his genitals exposed and liquid running down his body.

“There are images on display at this museum that are grossly inappropriate at best. They should be taken down immediately and investigated by law enforcement for any and all potential criminal violations. Children must be protected, and decency must prevail,” Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare previously tells The Dallas Express.

Other Tarrant County residents tell The Dallas Express that “pedophilia is not art” and that “every adult that approves this, from the board to the staff, should be held accountable.”

“If this ‘artwork’ were on my phone, I would be arrested,” Tarrant County resident Kenya Alu tells The Dallas Express. “Normalizing this is sick, and I want it to stop.”

Mann’s Work Has Come Under Scrutiny Before

Mann is no stranger to controversy. In 2015, The New York Times ran a piece called “The Disturbing Photography of Sally Mann” in which the photographer revealed that a federal prosecutor warned her that eight of her photos she selected for an exhibit could subject her to arrest.

But Mann defended herself: writing in an article that “all too often, nudity, even that of children, is mistaken for sexuality, and images are mistaken for actions.”

She continued, “The image of the child is especially subject to that kind of perceptual dislocation; children are not just the innocents that we expect them to be… But in a culture so deeply invested in a cult of childhood innocence, we are understandably reluctant to acknowledge these discordant aspects or, as I found out, even fictionalized depictions of them.”

Back in 2023, Jamie Lee Curtis sparked uproar after sharing a picture of her home in which a print by American photographer Betsy Schneider was visible. The photo showed Schneider’s daughter in a small plastic box filled with water but social media users condemned the actress’s taste in art as “creepy” and “sick”.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.