While researching masters of photography, I came across a image called “Migrant Mother” which was taken by a photographer called Dorothea Lange in 1936. I was absolutely enthralled by this image. Even when I didn’t know anything about the context in which this image was shot, the photograph had such strong documentary qualities- a mother with her children, resilient in the face of adversity and extreme poverty. On researching the image further, I learnt that it was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936 and this image turned out to be one of the best known and iconic images from that era.
Dorothea Lange (May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development of documentary photography. A lot of her images are quite poignant and reflective of the consequences of the depression era and the internment of Japanese Americans. She covered the rounding up of Japanese Americans and their internment in relocation camps, highlighting Manzanar, the first of the permanent internment camps. To many observers, her photograph of Japanese-American children pledging allegiance to the flag shortly before they were sent to internment camps is a haunting reminder of this policy of detaining people without charging them with any crime or affording them any appeal.
For me personally, images like these are forever imprinted in my mind.
Migrant Mother image, Destitute peapickers in California; a 32 year old mother of seven children. February 1936." (retouched version); Nipomo, California; Available from: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html; Accessed: January 18th, 2012.
.