Published By: Particular Books
Pages: 288
Released On: 09/09/2025
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 for artists and writers—or anyone interested in the creative path. Written in the same frank, 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.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Particular Books for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I’ll be honest and start by saying I didn’t know who Sally Mann was before reading this, and yet I was still interested in her perspective on art. And also, interestingly, I think photography is often not even considered ‘art’ because at a very basic level, people think of art as drawing or painting, whereas surely, just anyone can take a photo with their phone. And she’s explored that nicely.
I liked how honest she was. If you’re not in the art/creative world, you might think it’s fairly easy, painting or drawing or writing or photographic, it’s fun and quick and you have all this spare time. But the actual art part takes up a very small amount of time, the rest is filled with art admin, and I love that Sally hasn’t shied away from this.
I think this book could have two types of readers. The ones who are actively involved in art, be it as a job or hobby, and those who think they don’t have time or interest in art, or they think it’s not worth doing. And they would all get something different out of it.
She is encouraging in this book. She hasn’t hidden the bad bits of art and she hasn’t overinflated the good, she’s been honest. But it feels like you’re having a chat with a friend. She doesn’t put any kind of art down, she doesn’t think one type of art is better or worse than another, she clearly just wants people to fall in love with any kind of art.
I think, honestly, that many people disregard art as important. For instance, during the pandemic, I know a lot of industries suffered and I am not belittling any of them, but things like galleries, theatres, cinemas, studios etc. they weren’t seen as important. Now don’t get me wrong, in this situation the health industry has to come first, emergency services, hospitals, pharmacies etc. as well as supermarkets. But we were so quick to disregard the arts as not important. But as well as being people’s actual livelihood, it was completely ignored as a mood booster, to help mental health. And I love that through this book, Sally has so passionately spoken on behalf of the arts.
It’s a mixture of prose, letters, photographs, journal entries etc – it’s a real human story.
It had relatively short chapters which I liked – some are longer than others but they felt balanced on the whole, which was good as I loathe overly long chapters.
It wasn’t perfect but I can’t really say why, it was more of a feeling I had when reading it. But I did thoroughly enjoy it and I would highly recommend it.
Books By Your Bedside 