Bystanders, 2002
20 x 30" and 50 x 60" Fujiflex print, edition 10
The journey that Mann records, which is apparently endless, is also apparently to nowhere in particular. It just keeps going on and on, interrupted only by motel rooms, places which are, of course, anything but destinations. They are, instead, bland and forgettable on purpose, empty stages from which the actors have always just departed or on which they have not yet appeared... And this is what Mann's photos are really about: they're pictures of half-remembered dramas, objects caught out of the corner of the eye. They're pictures of the spirits that haunt the vast empty places along the American road, linger in the American soul.
- Mark Van de Walle, 2003