Photographer Sally Mann to Speak at the Wisconsin Union
Photographer Sally Mann
Mark your calendars for March 29 when photographer Sally Mann will be speaking at the Memorial Union. Sally is known for her black and white photography, some of which can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Whitney Museum in New York City. Sally will be visiting campus to speak about her work and to engage students, Wisconsin Union members and the community in a captivating conversation about art.
The Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS), a Wisconsin Union student led committee, has been bringing influential speakers like Sally from across the country to the UW-Madison campus since 1987. This year, DLS has welcomed R.J. Mitte, Marc Brown and Junot Diaz among many others to the Wisconsin Union.
“Our motivation is to bring diverse speakers to campus to let the students have a full experience that is a lot broader than just Madison, Wisconsin,” said Mohan Mandali x’16, director of the DLS Committee.
Sally is a native of Virginia and recently released a book about her life and work titled Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs. She is well known for her photographs of her children and the American South. Mohan said the opportunity to meet such a renowned artist is part of the committee’s goal to expand beyond the typical speaker list of researchers, authors and advocates.
Each spring, the DLS Committee releases a survey that calls for students to nominate speakers they would like to see come to campus. The DLS Committee then narrows down the submissions to create a final list of speakers across various professional disciplines. Typically, one to two speakers visit each month throughout the academic year.
For each speaker, UW-Madison students are invited to sign up for the chance to attend a pre-program where they can participate in a small, moderated discussion with the speaker before the main event. Mohan said DLS is hoping to partner with the student- led Art Committee to engage interested students.
“We have a very art filled campus,” Mohan said. “We thought this would be a really cool opportunity for students.”
The Sally Mann lecture is on Tuesday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall and will consist of a one-hour lecture and a 30 minute Q&A session.
