Sally Mann: Collodion and the Angel of Uncertainty (2018)

Made in conjunction with the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, this nine-minute documentary explores Mann's use of collodion wet plate negatives, a process used by many Civil War photographers. But unlike her predecessors, who worked hard to create perfect negatives, Mann readily embraced the flaws-such as specks of dust or pools of chemicals. These very imperfections, Mann explains, enable her to capture a sense of the South, where "the very air is redolent with the spirits of the past." Produced by the department of exhibition programs. Made possible by the HRH Foundation.