Candy Cigarette, 1989 by Sally Mann
Message Prompt:

One of Sally Mann’s most famous photos is entitled Candy Cigarette, 1989. The photo displays her daughter, Jessie Mann, holding a candy cigarette as though it were a real cigarette. In my opinion, I think this photo is attempting to convey a message on the innocence of childhood. Jessie Mann seems to hold her cigarette while thinking nothing of it. As a child, one does not know about the dangerous effects smoking can have on one’s body. Jessie most likely does not understand how dangerous smoking can be. She probably thinks it is “cool” that she is mocking the behavior of adults.

The photo is attempting to say that childhood is innocence, and that innocence is lost through adulthood. Children do not understand the consequences of smoking, and so Jessie pretends to smoke the candy cigarette just like an adult would. She does not yet know that smoking brings small outcomes like yellow teeth, and more severe ones like lung cancer. Jessie is inexperienced and unknowledgeable about the adult world. The photo seems to be mixing innocence with reality, or youth with age. A blameless girl is playing with something dangerous. A young girl is playing with something from the adult world.

If I were to write a caption for this photo, I would write “Innocence is threatened”. The girl is bringing a threatening thing into her life without realizing it. As a child, one should not be concerned with smoking. However, she thinks that mocking an adult’s bad behavior is fun, or cool. The photo is mixing an adult’s world with a child’s world, innocence with danger. She has purity now, but it will be lost once adulthood comes to her.