A Texas county will not take legal action against the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth for showing Sally Mann photographs that some labeled “child pornography,” according to the state’s District Attorney’s Office.
The allegations were first made in January, with politicians focusing on pictures of her nude children. Shot during the 1990s, these images were subsequently removed from a group exhibition and taken into custody by authorities, who held the works as evidence for alleged child abuse. The photographs do not depict sexual activity.
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The museum cooperated with authorities and issued only a brief statement on the controversy, noting that the Mann photographs had been “widely published and exhibited for more than 30 years in leading cultural institutions across the country and around the world.”
In February, three civil liberties unions took action, sending a joint letter to the chief of the Fort Worth police and requesting an end to the investigation, which they said constituted a violation of the First Amendment.
Despite the charges being dropped, the fate of the four photographs remains unclear. The temporary group exhibition in which they were featured, “Diaries of a Home,” has since closed.
“The Modern thanks the Tarrant County Grand Jury’s thorough review in this matter. The Modern is the oldest museum in the State of Texas. It proudly serves the Fort Worth community and beyond and will continue to maintain the highest of standards,” attorney and museum counsel Michael D. Anderson told ARTnews in a statement.
The news comes as the museum prepares for a change in leadership following the retirement of its longtime director Marla Price. In July, Halona Norton-Westbrook will take the helm.