Sally Mann’s 'Art Work: On the Creative Life'

We revisit our episode with photographer and writer Sally Mann about her book, "Art Work: On the Creative Life."

By LARB Radio HourJanuary 2, 2026

• LARB Radio Hour

This week, we are revisiting our episode with photographer and writer Sally Mann about her book, "Art Work: On the Creative Life." Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf speak with Mann, whose book describes her path to becoming an artist and provides prospective artists with insights on how to weather everything from rejection and poverty, to failure, fallow periods, and the millions of things that can come between you and your work.

The book includes selections from Mann’s rich archive of photographic work prints, explaining some of the ideas that have gone into her pictures, as well early diary entries that portray a fierce determination alongside equally fierce self-doubt. She also includes excerpts from her long correspondence with a fellow photographer named Ted Orland. Mann’s advice is to write letters, keep your receipts, make lots of lists, and remember that being an artist isn't necessarily such a big deal, it’s a job like any other: you have to work at it.

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