When the National Gallery of Art realized that, with a major acquisition of works from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 2014, it had one of the largest public holdings of photographer Sally Mann, efforts began on mounting her first major international exhibition. “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings,” which opens Sunday, covers four decades of work from the 66-year-old photographer, who initially stayed close to her childhood home in Lexington, Va., but deepened her understanding of the South by traveling more widely to ponder its fraught history in haunting photographs further enhanced by antique, experimental processes. Here, Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, gives insight into five of the 110 pieces included in the exhibit.
