The Complexity of Childhood: The photographic works of Loretta Lux and Sally Mann

The Complexity of Childhood is the name of the latest exhibition travelling to the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane this coming summer. Showcasing two prominent child photographers, the exhibition explores the emergence of the complexities that arise during the time of childhood, as explored by artists Loretta Lux and Sally Mann. The works of these two artists delve into significant themes associated with children and the transition from childhood into adolescence. Loretta Lux explores the process finding ones sense of self within the world during the seemingly timeless phase of childhood. Her work comes from a psychological context, as her pieces invite the viewer to reminisce over their own childhood and allow thoughts of their own development within that period to emerge. Mann, however, focuses more on the complexity of the emotions involved in the transition from childhood to adolescence. Exploring this idea from a socio-cultural context, Mann is able to challenge viewers to contemplate the complexity that emerges within this period of life. This exhibition, through the inclusion of these two artists, provides viewers with work that will position them to contemplate deeply the period of childhood and is involved in the transition into the stage of adolescence.

Loretta Lux
The work of Loretta Lux, within the series Works V, explores the period of childhood, looking at the way that children develop their sense of self and place within the world from a psychological context. As Lux herself puts it, her photographs depict the “unfolding story of growing up and the discovery of self and the equivocal connection between self and world,” (Lux in LaSala, 2004). However, Lux does not explicitly disclose the exact meaning of her work, wanting “people to decide what to see” (Lux in Sayre, 2008) when they view her work. She does however admit that they are “a metaphor for childhood” (Lux in Sayre, 2008), and the pastel colours of her work create a “nostalgia of childhood” (LeSala, 2004) within the viewer, leading them to consider their own childhood when viewing the work. Although mainly working from the photographic medium, Lux does digitally compose the images so to obtain the clarity within the images that she is widely renowned for. Digital manipulation is employed by Lux to “control every stage of production” (Loretta Lux) when she is crafting one of her pieces. It allows her to elongate legs of the subjects, or enlarge the heads or to “select the narrow pastel palette of the final prints” (Loretta Lux). This ability to manipulate the small details of her work strengthens the visual language within her work, which enables viewers to extract the meanings of her photographs. The photographs begin to looks surreal, which evokes a sense of timelessness within her works. Such is evident in her piece The Waiting Girl, which depicts a young girl and a cat sitting on renaissance style lounge. The regal and controlled expression in the young girls face draws a connection with the couch, suggesting that this child is of the 19th Century era. However, the inclusion of the rolling cat, and the informal, fidgeting posture of the girl depict her as “also possessing the qualities of a contemporary child” (Paul, 2009). This contrast and internal conflict between the objects and subject in the piece, creates a sense of timelessness, which the viewer is then encouraged to relate back to their memory of childhood. Lux explains that to her, this piece, and all of her pieces, demonstrate the “interplay of childhood and eternity” (Paul, 2009), relating to the fact that during childhood “we learn to live in this world” (Lux in Paul, 2009) that seems timeless and static. The sense of eternity within the piece, relates to this belief of Lux’s, as the child and the cat look “as if they are waiting for eternity” (Benedictus in Paul, 2006) so that they can progress into the next stage of life. This series by Lux, further promotes this idea, and encourages viewers to contemplate the nature of their childhood in light of this notion.

Sally Mann
In her series At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women, Sally Mann works from a socio-cultural context to explore the ideas of maturity and innocence during childhood and the progression into adolescence. The series of photographs depict Mann’s three children “at the brink of adolescence.” (Busse, 1997). These photographs were taken using a 100 year old 8”x10” large format camera, which due to its antique developmental processes, creates an “unbridled sense of intimacy” (Otero, 2008) between the subjects of the photographs and the viewer. Mann, herself, when discussing this series, stated that “many of [the] pictures [within the series] are intimate” (Mann in, Osbourn, 2006). This media use by Mann enables invites the viewer to “develop a sense of remembrance” (Busse, 1997) of childhood, and hence encourages their engagement with the work. This series seeks to explore and “capture the confusing emotions and developing identities of adolescent girls” (Sally Mann) Many of the images within the series depict Mann’s children in poses with props that juxtapose the seemingly innocent children with objects that are representative of maturity and an age greater than that of childhood. It is this visual language evident within Mann’s photographs that allow the viewer to recognise this message that Mann is presenting within her work. One such work in which this is quite evident is the photograph Candy Cigarette that focuses on Mann’s daughter Jessie. In the photograph, Jessie is holding a candy cigarette, and although she is recognisable as being young, pre-adolescent girl, which is reinforced by her surrounding young siblings, the inclusion of the cigarette acts to “accelerate [her] maturity by relying on the knowingness of the viewer” (Woodward, 1992) to associate make that association of the cigarette and her stance with maturity and the age of adolescence. This creates a sense of confusion as to Jessie’s age, which in turn promotes Mann’s depiction of childhood as a time of confusion and development. The fact that Jessie is the only three of the children to be looking at the camera further enhances this sense of her transition into adolescence. The other children are looking back down the road, which is representative of the path back to childhood, whilst Jessie faces forward, towards the transition into adolescence with all of its complexities. This series positions viewers to further explore the complex nature of the transition from being a child to an adolescent, whilst considering how these complexities relate to their own experience of this transition.

Both Loretta Lux and Sally Mann deeply explore the period of childhood within their two series, Works V and At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women respectively. Lux, explores the timelessness nature of childhood, encouraging viewers to allow memories of their own childhood to emerge in light of this notion. Mann, too encourages viewers to reminisce and remember their own childhood, urging them to also contemplate the complexity of the emotions that emerge from being on the edge of moving into adolescence. Although the two artist focus on differing aspects of the period of childhood and the progression into adolescence, both encourage viewers to contemplate in depth what childhood and the complex transition to adolescence means to them personally. For all those interested in exploring such notions, The Complexity of Childhood exhibition is a worthwhile exhibition to visit.