"Hold Still: A Memoir With Photographs" by Sally Mann (published 2015)

“Hold Still: A Memoir With Photographs” is the gripping true story of Sally Mann, the renowned American photographer. While some may not have heard of her yet, reading this book, which recently won the Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence In Nonfiction (2016), more than suffices as an introduction to her work. There are four parts to the book, each of which ties in her life and philosophy and how these have informed her art. It is fascinating to read Sally Mann’s skillfully and beautifully written account of her childhood: her unconventional parents and her love for horses, her home: in the farmlands of Virginia, wrought with a violent history, the story of her mother’s life: she was a descendant of a Mayflower pilgrim, and her beloved father, a reserved man compelled by death and it’s imagery. 

The book is more than just these stories, because “Hold Still” reveals Sally Mann’s innermost desires, weaknesses, her most private of thoughts, her sometimes unorthodox viewpoints (she explains her viewpoint on how Americans tend to fear death, while she is someone who ponders it bravely; she had a project titled “What Remains” that included photographs she took at a Body Farm, where fresh corpses are left out on the land to decay. As many have said, Mann has an admirable “unflinching” eye). “Hold Still” is also thick with straightforward prose, which, judging by the documentary “What Remains,” is Mann’s natural way of speaking, her thoughts pouring out sublimely and sometimes shockingly. Her descriptions are visceral, and convey the sometimes troubling and turbulent life she has lived thus far (her reactions to criticisms of her seminal work “Immediate Family,” for example), as well as the moments of peace. Her husband Larry Mann is a recurring and very important “character” throughout the book, as are, of course, her children. 

Sally Mann does not leave out subtle advice for novices. She carefully writes down her opinions and musings on what makes good art, what is hard about it, what is beautiful about it (for her, imperfections and uncertainty in her work is something that she prays for). She is smart but not pretentious, and one cannot help but be moved by her honesty. In one of her more academic passages she writes:

“The Platonic doctrine of recollection asserts that we do not learn but rather, with time and penetrating inquiry, release the comprehensive knowledge that came bundled with us at birth. In this concept, we each hold within ourselves ‘the other’ by virtue of our shared humanity, with artists (in theory) being uniquely qualified to transcend their own identity and gain access to the unknown other through empathy and imagination” (p. 284). 

What a wonderful and powerful thing it is to be an artist! Even if the reader does not consider himself one, “Hold Still” is always inspirational; live genuinely, be honest, be brave, love fully… these are some of its universal messages. Sally Mann sets an example, tells us that it is okay if we are flawed, and lets us know that those flaws are not to be ashamed of. 

The pages of “Hold Still” contain Mann’s intimate photographs that illumine her life story and personal artistic style. The four-hundred-plus pages of Mann’s memoir is a breeze to read and one will come out more informed, while being appreciative of reading something rare; a story imbued with disclosed secrets both for the writer as well as for the reader.