Battlefields, Cold Harbor (Battle) 2003

Sally Mann's photograph, "Battlefields, Cold Harbor", uses a wet plate collodion process to capture a landscape charged with history. The image has a ghostly feel, like a memory refusing to fade. This effect, I reckon, comes from the way she handles the materials. Look at the surface; you can see the marks, streaks and imperfections in the emulsion, which are emphasized by the tonal range of dark greys. There’s a palpable tension between decay and endurance, the same tension I strive to conjure in my paintings. Think about the way Mann photographs, how the process itself becomes part of the story, not just a means to an end, but a way to invoke an atmosphere of both melancholy and resilience. I'm reminded of Joel Sternfeld's unflinching approach to documenting the American landscape. Mann shares Sternfeld's vision of the land as a site of both beauty and trauma.