One of Sally Mann’s Early works was At Twelve. A collection of photos about young gurls on the edge of adulthood. Young girls were often caught in the middle of wanting to be a child and wanting to grow up. Sally captures these photos of close family friends and relatives. These pictures are intended to show the problems young women faced and continue to face.
These young girls are just posing for a picture and it is up to the interpreter to take what they want from the photo. Most people took the innocence of these young girls out of the picture, and had there own interpretations. Girls are oftened sexualized and that is what Sally tried to portray in these images. It is also about how girls become women quickly. She really wanted to show that to be young in America is a time of excitement and possibilities.
There is no distinction between the time you are 12 to the time you become an adult. Are you an adult at 18 or 21? Legally you are at 18, but you cant purchase alcohol until you are 21. Not saying alcohol makes you an adult but, if you are an adult shouldn’t you be able to purchase it at the age of 18. From the time of your teenage years you are constantly learning more about your body and everything around you. Things you were to young to know or hear, are now things you often think about. A time where you once played with dolls and loved family time, now turned into hanging out with friends or boys and wanting to be away from your family.
This collection was mainly to show that no matter the innocence of a young girl, society is the issue. Society picks how they want to interpret the photos and society decided if something is frowned upon or not. However, I believe that is what Sally wanted. She wanted to show the world that it is them, and not the children or women in this world. The world sexualizes so many things and that is where problems began.
