Charming, chaotic scenes of family life in small-town America blend reality with fiction

Editor’s Note: Julie Blackmon’s show “Fever Dreams” opened at Fotografiska in New York City, but has since been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a reopening date yet to be confirmed. Mann framed her work through Emily Dickinson’s poem “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” noting in her foreword to “Immediate Family” that “When the good pictures come, we hope they tell truths, but truths ‘told slant’…We are spinning a story of what it is to grow up.” It’s an idea that stayed with Blackmon when she was first introduced to Mann as an art major in college – though Blackmon did not pursue photography in earnest until over a decade later, when she, her husband and three children moved into a home with a basement darkroom. Julie Blackmon/Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery "Ezra" Julie Blackmon/Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery "Birds at Home" Julie Blackmon/Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery "Fake Weather" Julie Blackmon/Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery Julie Blackmon's photographs of charming, chaotic scenes of family life Prev Next In her recent image, “New Neighbors,” two young sisters stand side by side in matching red dresses with white collars and black bows, redolent of Stanley Kubrick’s unsettling twins from “The Shining.” They face off across the driveway with a toddler on a tricycle, who has stopped in his tracks at their presence. “There’s no real formula to getting a piece that resonates with people.” "New Neighbors" by Julie Blackmon Julie Blackmon/Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery New interpretations While the United States and many countries around the world practice social distancing and people remain largely confined to their homes to stop the spread of coronavirus, Blackmon has been looking at her work through a new lens. "Power of Now" Julie Blackmon/Courtesy the artist and Robert Mann Gallery But Blackmon’s work is not just about the lives of plucky and rambunctious children and the parents who must find balance; it’s also “a metaphor for being overwhelmed,” she said.