Sally Mann’s Candy Cigarette explores childhood naïveté in juxtaposition with the loss of innocence that comes along with growing up. The black and white portrait features three children standing outside on a dirt road. At the center of the photograph, a young, blonde girl in a white dress is posed looking directly at the camera holding a candy cigarette in between her index and middle finger. The cigarette in the hand of a child is meant to shock the viewer until they take a closer look to realize it is only candy. Standing beside her, a slightly younger girl is positioned with her back to the camera and her hands on her hips. Further in the background, we see what appears to be a young boy standing on stilts, also with his back faced to the camera. In this celebrated portrait of three children, Sally Mann evaluates how different children–specifically, girls– navigate the transition between childhood and adulthood.

Sally Mann captures the image of childhood innocence with the younger girl and the boy in the background of the photograph. In the right bottom corner of the portrait, the youngest girl’s curls are pulled back and tied on top of her hair with a ribbon. With her hands on her hips and her back to the camera, she seems to be watching the young boy. Further down the road, the boy is walking on stilts. Both the young girl and boy appear to be typical, happy children playing together outside. Perhaps the two children are too young to have been affected by societal pressures or corruption, but the innocence of both children seems to be intact. 

Unlike the younger girl and boy, the innocence of the slightly older girl at the center of Candy Cigarette seems to have been disturbed. While the other two children have their backs facing the camera, she is looking directly at the camera which clearly sets her apart and, to some degree, suggests she is rebellious. Her expression seems solemn with the beginning of a frown on her face. In addition, her hair looks tangled, unkept, and voluminous, contrasting with the younger girl’s tidily-done hair to her left that suggests she is not yet mature enough to style her own hair. Attempting to imitate an adult woman of the 1980s, the girl at the center of the photograph heavily teases her hair. In her hand, she holds a candy cigarette between her middle and index fingers. Again, Sally Mann presents the young girl as a rebel who is mimicking the posture of a seasoned chain smoker. The girl longs to be older and wants to grow up too quickly, nonetheless, she is still a child and holds a cigarette that is only candy. Ironically, by holding a piece of candy that is sweet, she is imitating a persona with a future that is not.

In addition to the physical road the three children are positioned upon, they are also on a less literal path that is the process of growing up. The two children with their backs faced to the camera seem to be headed in the same direction on the path, while the girl at the center is facing the exact opposite direction on the road. As a rebellious young girl losing the innocence still maintained by the other two children, Mann’s photograph foreshadows that she will live a far different life than them. Even though the younger girl and the boy are facing the same direction on the path, the boy is on stilts so he is on a higher level than both of the girls. In addition, he is much further down the road than the two girls. Even though all three children are similar in age, the image suggests that the boy already has a clear advantage in life over the two other girls on the same path as him. The road symbolizes growing up and the positioning of the children on the road shows the injustices that come along with life, like sexism. 

In Candy Cigarette, Sally Mann explains the difference between growing up as a girl and growing up as a boy. On the road that is life, the boy has every advantage to his female counterparts. With their innocence still maintained, the younger girl and boy have not yet identified this societal injustice so they continue, facing the same direction, down the path. However, the girl at the center of the photograph has arguably noticed the injustice on the road. Because she realizes that the boy will always be on a higher level and farther down the road than her, she appears to rebel by turning around and taking out a candy cigarette. Out of frustration with societal unfairness, she may now embark on a completely different path where she could possibly have a higher chance of equality or this turning could also lead to situations detrimental to her well-being, as suggested by the candy cigarette in her hand and her teased hair.

Sally Mann shows us youthful, playful children juxtaposed with a slightly older child who is losing her innocence through observing the world. The girl holding the candy cigarette is able to see the advantages the boy has over her and other females so, in response, she chooses an alternative path where she tries to imitate an adult by holding a candy cigarette in her hand and teasing her hair. While the image takes places during the late 1980s, it still holds relevance, today. Unfortunately, sexism still exists and, in response, the third wave of feminism formed around the same time as this portrait and continues into today. Luckily, images like these exist to inspire social change and equality. Candy Cigarette explores the process of children, especially girls, growing up.
