Made in conjunction with the exhibition Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, this nine-minute documentary explores Mann’s use of collodion wet plate negatives, a process used by many Civil War photographers. But unlike her predecessors, who worked hard to create perfect negatives, Mann readily embraced the flaws—such as specks of dust or pools of chemicals. These very imperfections, Mann explains, enable her to capture a sense of the South, where “the very air is redolent with the spirits of the past.” Produced by the department of exhibition programs. Made possible by the HRH Foundation.