Candy Cigarette

Sally Mann captured many images with the intention to evoke different interpretations for each of her photographs. Candy Cigarette, a photograph of Mann’s two daughters and son, portrays the identity of each child through their body language. In this photograph her children’s personalities are strongly highlighted with the use of color and posture, as well as their use of props. The children each seem to be at a different stage in their lives and their attitude towards their individual persona is easily identified.

Looking at this photograph, we are immediately engrossed to the image of a juvenile girl in a white dress holding a cigarette. Judging from her posture and the way she is holding the cigarette, we perceive a sense of maturity and adulthood. Her right hand folded across her chest gives the viewer the impression that she is a diffident and a reserved young female. On the contrary, her left hand, which is holding the cigarette, depicts her as arrogant and imperious. Although her body language is recognized as that of a woman, it is evident that she is just a young girl. The black watch on her right wrist can account for the distortion between her appearance and her age. Time for her seems to be an issue that’s affecting her identity. Her small body and innocent eyes reveal her young age. Unfortunately, her young age is nothing of which is proud of. Her messy hair and pompous posture unmask her rush to grow up, be independent, and fit her own definition of a mature woman. Although it is evident that she is not the eldest amongst her siblings, her sophisticated body posture and advanced mentality suggests otherwise.

Far off in the distance a male figure appears on walking stilts. Although he appears to be the eldest in the photo because of his larger body structure, his mental position lies between his two sisters. He is unstable even though he can identify with both of his sibling’s attitudes. His white shirt illustrates his connection with his “oldest” sister’s point of view. He too is desperate to grow up, but his transition into adulthood is still debatable His dark shorts, which in color are similar to his younger sister’s dress, evoke a link between the two siblings. The short trousers may represent the memories of his life as a smaller, younger person, that he is still holding on to. His younger sisters, along with his short trousers, provide him with the notion of infancy making it harder for him to find a balance. Even though the tall stilts supply him with a feeling of superiority and authority, he is still tottering on the line between childhood and manhood. Unwilling to decide between the two extremes, he is walking into the darkness, approaching the light emerging through the trees, hoping for stability.

Unlike her brother, but very much like her older sister, the little girl in the gray knows exactly what she wants. The white lace on the little girl’s dress, which is a smaller version of the lace on her sister’s dress, represents the bit of similarity between the two females. The “oldest” girl wants to be a mature woman, while the youngest girl wants to enjoy her childhood. Although this connection is inferred, the youngest girl shows disapproval of her older sister’s doings and beliefs by facing the opposite direction. Her up held messy ponytail represents her will to run around and play infantile games. Her loose curls manifest her inattentive attitude towards her looks. She has not yet reached the age at which her appearance is of high importance; which can account as one of the differences between her and her older sister. The few natural highlights in her hair suggest that even though she is just a little girl, the roots of her personality are already sprouting. She positions her arms in such a way as to convey a sense of innocent arrogance in her rising character. Her slight inclination to her right indicates her on going momentum to enjoy her childhood while developing her persona.

As a mother and photographer, Sally Mann captures her children’s characters as well as her own maternal emotions She seems to be aware of the maturity level of her “oldest” daughter and through this photograph; Mann shows her acceptance towards her daughter’s coming of age. She trusts that her daughter will grow up to be a responsible young lady, and shows her certainty by allowing her to hold a cigarette in her photo. Mann also shows her awareness of her boy’s instability by having him walk on stilts. She realizes that he is just going through a phase and that he will eventually find his true self as a young adult. Mann expresses the up coming stability of her boy by having him walk in the direction of the light emerging from the trees. Finally, Sally Mann shows her satisfaction with her youngest daughter by letting her be who she is. Her casual attitude and her developing character give her mother something to look forward to. The path on which Mann’s children are standing on symbolizes their long lives ahead of them. She feels confident that each of her children will grow up and have prosperous lives. But the surrounding forest indicates her constant protection over them. Even though they are developing, as their mother, she is alert in the background ready to keep them on the right path.

Grandpa Pedro

Can you imagine a large, angry ogre as a kind, loving man? Although these two sets of contradicting characteristics are hardly ever used to describe the same person, I can assure you that at different times in my life, each set described my grandpa Pedro.

“Hurry, Hurry, finish your food, grandpa’s coming!” is what was expected from grandma every night at the dinner table. Don’t get me wrong, grandma Elina was a great cook, but whenever she included bell peppers in her meals, it was impossible for me to even attempt eating whatever else was on the plate. I was never a picky eater, but like my mother, there were a few things that were not included on my “favorite things to eat” list. I hated peppers, and just about any other cooked vegetable. Whenever they happen to be included in the meal, it became a battle between my grandma and I when she tried to feed me. Unfortunately, I was always defeated in the battle as soon as grandpa set foot in the house. He was a tall, gray haired man with thick glasses and a deep voice. He never said hello when he entered the house, but you knew he was home when you heard the front door slam shut. He was a scary man. Or at least that’s what grandma wanted me to think. You see, she always got me to eat her food by saying that if I didn’t eat it, grandpa was going to get really, really upset. She said that he would take me to his workshop and punish me severely.

As you might have already guessed, growing up I never had much interaction with grandpa Pedro. He was always in his workshop building or fixing something. He spent long hours in the hospital and sometimes days at his religious center. He was always involved in the community and barely spent any time with his family. You see, he had a very big heart, and this I know from the many times he brought home homeless people in order to feed them and give them some clean clothes. One time, he even built a small shack in the back yard and hosted a homeless man until he died. Regardless to all of his kind actions, I had always dreaded his presence. After all of the fear my grandmother had built up in me against grandpa Pedro, I tried to stay as far away from him as possible.

On October 20th 1996 the whole family was to be united at my grandparents’ house to celebrate my uncle’s birthday. Two days before the party, my cousins and I had basically moved into the house so that our mothers would have time to organize and prepare everything for the big event. We all slept in one room like a herd of wolves under a cave and had adventures around the house. Playing pirates was one of our favorite games. We always pretended the treasure was in the same room, but somehow were always excited to discover it under the same bed every time.

On this particular occasion, my second cousins from Quito had been invited. They were the eldest of us all, and weren’t easy to get along with. We had asked them to play pirates with us and they responded “NO!”, in an arrogant manner. They always thought themselves better then us and too old to get involved in childish games. After long hours of searching for our treasure, we found the “hidden” room. But to our surprise, our evil cousins had locked the door. In desperation to dig out our treasure, I went for the set of keys on grandpa’s nightstand and ran back to the door. I tried every key and when I finally found the right one, I was struggling with the doorknob. As my cousins hurried me to unlock the door, we suddenly heard a crack and everyone stopped. I pulled the key out, but only half of the key was on the keychain. Right at that moment, we heard the front door slam shut and everyone, except for me, scurried in different directions.
As I felt the tall figure approach me, I closed my eyes and like a defenseless little ant, I waited to be hurt. Suddenly, I was elevated and when I opened my eyes, I was in grandpa’s workshop. This was when I knew the end had come. I looked around and all I saw were tools of massive destruction. There was a hand drill, a few hammers, wooden saws, wrenches, and even a long orange thing that looked like a snake. There were old pieces of machinery everywhere and the floor was covered with pieces of wood. In the back, there was a mammoth size fridge where I figured he kept the peppers he would use to torture me.

When grandpa finally appeared, he was wearing the green sweater with brown buttons we had given him for Christmas last year. He looked like a snapping turtle ready to attack, but surprisingly enough, he didn’t. Grandpa had taken off his glasses, and for the first time I realized he had hazel eyes. He took what was left of the key I was holding and placed it on the table. Out of the blue, he pulled out a lollypop and asked me if I liked the pink flavor. I told him I did and that pink was my favorite color. He gently took the wrapper off and before giving it to me he made me promise I wouldn’t tell grandma that he gave me a lollypop before dinner. We stayed in his workshop for a few hours and he told me stories from when he was a little boy.

That day was one of the most confusing days of my life. When supper was ready, grandpa Pedro sat next to me at the large rectangular dinner table and gave me a big smile. When grandma wasn’t looking, he took all of the cooked vegetables off my plate and pretended nothing had happened. Right before bedtime, I asked him if he would read me a story and with a tone of astonishment he replied, “me?” As he read me my story all I could think of was why this had never happened before. Why hadn’t I ever spent quality time with grandpa Pedro before this day? Why would grandma portray him as an evil ogre? He was so gentle and completely different from the image I had of him. His deep soothing voice slowly put me to sleep as he read me the story about the little pink bunny. As I felt his weight lift off the bed, I opened my eyes and thanked him for everything he had done that day and that I loved him very much. He kissed my forehead and said, “ I love you too mi longa, que duermas con lost angelitos”.