Analysis of Dorothea Lange’s Photo Migrant Woman

People always say photographs can help keep the important moments in their lives alive, or that every picture has a story to it. In our history books, photos show and tell a story of the past. In nineteen-thirty-six, at a camp for seasonal agricultural workers of Los Angeles, Dorothea Lange a well-known American documentary photographer and photojournalist of the Depression era took the world by storm when she took a photo of Florence Owens; the infamous woman in the well-known photo called ‘Migrant Woman’. Although Owens never gave permission to Lange to use the image of her and her children, Lange promised Owens that the hundreds of photos she took of her and her children would never be published. Nerveless, the next day, Lange’s pictures were published on the front page of every single newspaper alongside with an article about the hunger of the American people who were working on the fields with little, to no pay. This iconic photo soon had become an icon of the Great Depression era in 1936 and showed the difficulties of the American people at the time, and the passionate love between a mother and her children.

Looking at the photo, the things that point out in this photograph would be the sharp structure in Florence’s face, the facial expression she gives is showing that she’s extremely exhausted. The roughness of her hair, the dirt under her nails show that she is dirty and unfortunately poor. Owens wears a shirt that is covered in dirt and a jacket that is loosely hanging on her left arm. In the background, Owen’s children are slightly hiding their faces behind their mothers’ shoulders. The small child on the left side wears a dirty tattered jacket that doesn’t fit, on the other hand, the other boy wears a sung shirt. The final child is barely noticeable but can be seen, a newborn is in his mother’s arms, the baby is obviously worn down and is covered in a dirty blanket. Although the photo does not say words it shows that they are currently in some sort of emotional distress.

In this image, Owen’s face is the only visible face viewers can see so it makes her more gripping. By the way of her face, we can understand more about what she is going through. She looks very exhausted and uneasy for her and her family’s future and wellbeing. Owen is currently unable to find a position of employment after her husband had passed due to illness; this is the reason why the photo is famously named Migrant Mother. The way Owen’s children lean on their mother’s shoulder seems like they’re in distress, tired and as if they are hoping for any type of miracle. Lange took this photo at the perfect angle, so Florence appears clearly and emotional, the absence of coloring is what makes this famous photo so powerful.

The photograph reminds and opens our eyes to how devastating the Great Depression. The Great Depression was from nineteen-twenty-nine to the early nineteen-forties. At the time the American economy collapsed. It has been named the longest and severe depression the United States has ever experienced. 

Works Cited

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