Image: Sally Mann. Image by Jared Soares. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
Photographer Sally Mann will appear at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, on September 25 for the inaugural ‘Robert E. and Bennett D. Wagner Memorial Photography Lecture.’ The evening programme will center on Mann’s photographic practice and her engagement with the Southern landscape, as well as photography’s role in confronting memory, identity and public life.
The lecture is scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the museum. Admission is free for Chrysler Museum members and $20 for non-members, with registration required. The event is being presented as part of the museum’s September programming and is described in its announcement as ‘An Evening with Sally Mann.’
Mann is identified by the museum as an American photographer born in 1951. The announcement does not provide a full biography or specify the format of her presentation, but frames the event as a reflection on the ideas and subjects that have shaped her work. Its stated focus places the Southern landscape alongside questions of remembrance, personal and collective identity, and the responsibilities of photographic representation in public life.
The museum’s announcement is illustrated with Mann’s ‘Battlefields, Antietam (Robbie’s Tree),’ made in 2001. The work is described as a gelatin silver print with diatomaceous earth varnish. Its title locates the image at Antietam, the Maryland site associated with a major 1862 Civil War battle, although the announcement does not provide further interpretation of the photograph or explain how it will relate to the lecture.
The photograph was acquired through a museum purchase supported by Susan and David Goode, Penny and Peter Meredith, Ashby and Joseph Waldo, Meredith and Brother Rutter, Randy and Lelia Graham Webb, and Sarah B. Clarkson and John M. Herre. It carries the Chrysler Museum’s accession number 2025.75.1. The work’s inclusion in the event announcement provides a direct link between Mann’s appearance and the museum’s holdings, while the lecture itself is presented as a discussion of her broader practice rather than as an exhibition.
The Sally Mann lecture is one of several September activities listed by the Chrysler Museum, but it is distinct from the institution’s studio classes, community programmes and other lectures. Registration is required, and the published schedule gives no indication of an exhibition opening or extended display associated with Mann’s appearance. The event will take place on Friday, September 25, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
