On the Creative Life

By Sally Mann

"Ten years after her frank and fearless memoir Hold Still, we now have a new volume of “mutable memories” from the incomparable photographer and consummate raconteur Sally Mann. A kind of how-to (and how-not-to) guide “primarily for young artists and writers,” Art Work may be slimmer and lighter than Hold Still, but it pulls no punches. Replete with both mundane and marvelous advice, it offers hard-earned wisdom and insight. It considers the challenges of rejection, distraction, or enforced fallowness; and explores the mistakes and breakthroughs, pitfalls and pleasures of making art and living art. It is as tough-minded as it is clear-eyed, open-hearted, and very often grittily funny. Expertly edited by Michael Sand and elegantly designed by Laura Lindgren, Art Work is wonderful to have and hold and a pure pleasure to read.“
–Herbert Pföstl

Art Work, by photographer and writer Sally Mann, offers a spellbinding mix of wild and illuminating stories, practical (and some impractical) advice, and life lessons.

Written in the same direct, fearless, and occasionally outrageous tone of her bestselling memoir, Hold Still, this new book reaffirms Mann as a unique and resonant voice for our times and is destined to become a classic.

Illustrated throughout with photographs, journal entries, and letters that bring immediacy and poignancy to the narrative, Art Work is full of thought-provoking insights about the hazards of early promise; the unpredictable role of luck; the value of work, work, work, and more hard work; the challenges of rejection and distraction; the importance of risk-taking; and the rewards of knowing why and when you say yes.

In sparkling prose and thoughtfully juxtaposed visuals and ephemera, Art Work is a generous, provocative, and compulsively readable exploration of creativity by one of our most original thinkers.

2025; hardcover; 6.6" x 9.5"; 272 pages; ISBN: 9781419780714.

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