The Use of Dorothea Lange’s Photos in The Depiction of an Immigrant Family

During the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans moved westward in a desperate attempt to find work. These “people in flight from the terror behind,” as John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath poignantly describes, were largely ignored by the unaffected American public. Under the Resettlement Administration, Dorothea Lange sought to bring attention to the plight of these people in flight through her expressive photography. Lange’s photo “Migrant Woman With Five Children” shocked its viewers through the stark depiction of the destitute and worrisome existence of a migrant family.

The focus of the piece is the off-centered mother, conveying the down-trodden nature of the country. One immediately can notice the subject’s flaccid arms on either side, the slight hunch, and the dirt soiled dress, thus bringing to mind the arduous journey she has endured. Furthermore, when examining the mother’s face, the viewer finds the familiar melancholy worry of Lange’s other work, as seen in “Migrant Mother” or “Migrant Family on Road.” Since these are all candid shots, when seen collectively the viewer understands what a universally dire situation the Great Depression created for America. As the sun sets in the west behind the mother, she squints directly into the camera, a confrontational technique Lange uses to arrest the viewer’s attention. Perhaps purposefully, Lange leaves out the father in this photo to make the mother the only adult. Already tired and beaten, the situation becomes more concerning as the viewer begins to examine the children.

The five children in the shot each exponentialize the sympathy the viewer feels for the family simply through their presence. When Lange photographed “Migrant Mother,” she purposefully left out most of Florence Thompson’s seven children so as to not deduct the empathy viewers felt for the stressed mother. In this photo, inversely, Lange shows how harrowing the situation is for the single mother to take care of all the children. Lange uses depth to scatter the kids throughout the shot and also to guide one’s eyes from the subject to the background. Although the first girl the viewer notices looks directly into the camera, just like her mother, her countenance suggests playfulness rather than worry. Despite her dusty dress and dirty face, the girl’s small smile conveys the resistance of childhood innocence, imploring viewers to empathize with the family. This same concept is seen in the boy kneeling on the ground, playing with a scrap of wood. Depression era America can certainly sympathize with children just trying to make the best of things. One’s eyes then move from the boy to the remaining two girls, whose faces are hidden. This creates a form of anonymity for the children, as if saying, “these could be your kids too.” The boy in the background clutching a broom further suggests how little the family has, as no belongings are seen except for the clothes on the family’s back and the car pointed west.

Lange shows how important travel is to migrant life through the automobile lying in the background. Through use of contrast and depth, the car becomes one of the last things the viewer notices. The car’s position in the background and its shadowy appearance initially hide it, but its importance lies in the fact that there is no house or even tent in sight. Very often in photography of this era, a vehicle becomes the focal point as it is the only home for many migrant Americans. This family is no different. Despite already arriving in California, as the description reads “On road near Fresno, California,” the auto is still pointed west, ready to look for work. Just getting into California is not enough for many migrant families. The only way for this mother and her children to survive is to find work, and the only way to do that is to keep moving.

Dorothea Lange’s success in bringing migrant families into the public spotlight through works like these has influenced generations of documentary photographers. Much like the American migrants, America itself must continuously move forward through social change in order to survive. The necessity of art in our society lies in its ability to create an emotional gateway with its viewers, thus allowing for this change to occur.