The much-anticipated new book by acclaimed artist and New York Times bestselling author Sally Mann about the challenges and transcendent pleasures of the creative process.
ART WORK: On the Creative Life
In sparkling prose and thoughtfully juxtaposed visuals and ephemera, ART WORK: On the Creative Life (Abrams Press; September 9, 2025; U.S. $35.00; Hardcover) by acclaimed artist and New York Times bestselling author Sally Mann, is a generous, provocative, and compulsively readable exploration of creativity by one of our most original thinkers. Written in the same frank, fearless, and at times outrageously funny tone of her bestselling memoir, Hold Still, ART WORK offers a spellbinding mix of wild and illuminating stories, practical (and some impractical) advice, and life lessons.
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 to say yes. Mann writes vividly about her experiences with crushing failure and rejection, and, through evocative storytelling, shows how she willed herself to persevere, over and over again. She also explores the importance of pushing boundaries—trespassing to get just the right photograph, not shying away from sensitive subject matter—and how this has played out for her in life and work.
ART WORK reaffirms Mann as a unique and resonant voice for our times and is destined to become a classic.
Sally at Home ©Ted Orland
About the Author
Sally Mann is a Guggenheim Fellow and three-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She was named “America’s Best Photographer” by Time in 2001. In 2021, she received the Prix Pictet and was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame. She has been the subject of two documentaries: Blood Ties (1994), which was nominated for an Academy Award, and What Remains (2006), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Emmy for Best Documentary. Mann’s Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs (Little, Brown, 2015) received universal critical acclaim, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Mann is based in Lexington, Virginia.
About the Book
ART WORK: On the Creative Life
By Sally Mann
Abrams Press / September 9, 2025
U.S. $35.00
Hardcover with jacket / 272 pages / Full-color images throughout
6 ¼ x 9 ¼”
ISBN: 9781419780714
“If it’s possible to learn fearlessness—or cussedness or dust-yourself-offedness or stick-to-itiveness—Sally Mann is the one who could teach it to you. Sally Mann may be the only one who could teach it to you. This book will make you brave.”
—Margaret Renkl, bestselling author of The Comfort of Crows
“I love this book. It’s not just about art—if anyone’s asking me—it’s about being a human. And it is really wise about that business.”
—James Rebanks, bestselling author of The Shepherd’s Life
“Full of inspiration and sage advice, it should be required reading for young artists setting out to work in any medium.”
—Amor Towles, bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway
