Art Seized From Museum: Christian Nationalism's Assault On Art And Free Thought In Fort Worth
The dangerous agenda behind the seizure of art from a Fort Worth museum.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/christian-nationalisms-assault-on
In the late 1980s, Virginia photographer Sally Mann took intimate photographs of her family in their natural setting. She published them in a book called Immediate Family in 1992. Of the 65 photographs in the book, 13 of them showed her children in a state of undress. The book received widespread praise and outrage.
Some critics called the book “timeless and magic,” while others called it “pornographic and exploitative.” There was a backlash in the early 90s from these photographs, mainly from the Christian fundamentalists, who argued that the images sexualized children. Although the photographs depict the children in the nude, none of the pictures are sexual in nature. They are shown in their environments, playing in the dirt, climbing trees, and just being kids.
Mann defended her work as an honest portrayal of childhood innocence and vulnerability, challenging societal discomfort with the human body.
“There was no internet in those days. I’d never seen child pornography. It wasn’t in people’s consciousness. Showing my children’s bodies didn’t seem unusual to me. Exploitation was the farthest thing from my mind.”
— Sally Mann