Georgia, Untitled (Ossabaw Gates)
Date1996
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsSheet: 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm)
Framed: 42 3/8 × 52 × 1 3/4 inches (107.6 × 132.1 × 4.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase.
Object number2025.19
Copyright© Sally Mann.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextSally Mann’s interest in photographing the Southern landscape is rooted in deconstructing myths that glorify the pre-Civil War South. During her visit to Ossabaw Island in March 1996, Mann was drawn to the mottled pink stucco walls that act as gate posts at the entrance to the Main House grounds. Covered in moss, overtaken by vines, and flanked by two empty planters, the posts communicate the Torrey family’s faded wealth and privilege. Mann’s photograph amplifies that sense of loss with the blemishes and discolorations of the orthochromatic film that she used to capture the scene. Set within Ossabaw’s wilderness, the tarnished gates act as a metaphor for the historic violence that is entangled with the Southern landscape. “These photographs are about memory and time and the still point at which they intersect,” Mann later said of her Mother Land series, which includes Ossabaw. “I noted the ways we compose history’s beautiful lie.”
Gallery label from 'Off the Coast of Paradise: Artists and Ossabaw Island, 1961–Now,' March 13–September 6, 2026.
