Dorothea Lange photographed the homeless people who walked the streets during the Great Depression.The “White Angel BreadLine” photo by Dorothea Lange represents the suffering and hardship that was one of the most difficult periods in the history of the United States during the depression. Her photos of migrant workers have also been provided with captions that use the workers’ own phrase. The weariness suggested by the man’s pose, the emptiness of his cup, his personality concealed by the low brim of his hat, and his alienation on the breadline from others, all adding to a sadding yet respectful portrait of desperation and hopelessness. In this picture, the opposites are truly honored. The circumstance is traumatic and inhuman, those people have no job and no food. Lange the artist restores to them what they are robbed of by an unfair economic system
Migrant mother, Dorothea Lange was shot in 1936 during the Great Depression. The U.S. The photograph is named Congress Library, “Destitute Pea Pickers in California.” The mother’s eyes are concerned. The children turned their back from us. Their raw texture contrasted with human skin. It even takes a moment to consider the swaddled baby, and for me at least, that’s when the real thing comes. The Photographs represented the truth but both this photograph and the woman were staged. Lange said “Thompson was very supportive to let her pose the children and place them in the picture.” What she accomplished was a profoundly emotional and intimate image but also a distant one. We have a photo taken in someone’s personal living room. This is an familiar term this allows us to have immediate empathy
Dorothea Lange photographs have great depth when you look at them. When you look at her photos you can see the real emotions from the people in the photographs. When I look at them I can feel what they feel especially during this pandemic we are in currently. I feel and see from the photos are fear, sadness, and conflicted. Knowing that you have to wait and see if things are to change for the better or end up getting worse. While in our current era we have to wait and see if this pandemic will come to end or just be able to go outside without fear of getting sick from the people around you. I understand why Dorothea captured these images because she wanted to show these simple people emotion during the Great Depression.
I find it interesting that you use the word respectful for Lange’s portrayal of this man waiting for free food. I think it is in hiding his face with the brim of his hat and keeping his privacy that makes this a respectful image. It also makes it not just about this one man but about many similar men suffering hunger as he is.
When looking at the photo Migrant Mother for the first time, I think most people do not see the baby. Once you do see the baby, as you say ” that when the real thing comes.”
All photos are changed by the circumstances from which we view them. Images of the Great Depression touch us right now as we too are facing fear and suffering.