Sally Mann: Hold Still

This best-selling memoir by photographer Sally Mann reveals her life and work through a unique interplay of vividly candid writing and evocative images—both archival documents and her own photographs. She recounts her “near-feral” childhood growing up in Lexington, Virginia; discoveries she made about her family; and her development as a photographer. Mann’s narrative addresses the origins of her work, the controversies that have attended it, and the themes of family, history, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South that continue to motivate her as an artist.

Hold Still was awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and was a National Book Award Finalist. According to the Judges’ Citation for the National Book Award: “With breathtaking candor, Sally Mann’s emotionally daring memoir recounts a wild life of creative obsession and inspiration, expressing a lyrical sense of place, a love of beauty, and fierce self-scrutiny.”