Old is Gold
Migrant Mother
Dorothea Lange
“Photography takes an instant out
of time, altering life by holding it
still.” A very convincing and realistic
statement indeed. Looking at a
photograph, one often feels as if
time has just momentarily stopped;
stopped for just that person and one
is transported into a whole new land
of memories where everything was
different and time itself was gazing at
them, capturing those moments and
etching it on their hearts. Photographs
always have that kind of effect. Even
after depicting the most real scenes,
they make us think in wonder of
all those beautiful and unexplored
realms that are out there ready to
be unmasked by whoever has the
patience to do so.
“One should really use the camera
as though tomorrow you’d be
struck blind.” This was the whole
life philosophy of the famous
photographer Dorothea Lange and
it was through this thought process
that all her photographs appealed
to the audience and conveyed a
message that was much larger than
what was just apparent. Lange (1895-
1965) was an American documentary
photographer and photojournalist.
She is most notably remembered
for her shots during the Great
Depression which she did for the
Farm Security Administration (FSA). It
was through her photographs that we
could actually see and feel the harsh
and brutal aftermath of the Great
Depression.
The Great Depression was a tough
time for the whole world. It was
the longest and the most severe
economic depression of the 20th
century. It started in the U.S. with a
steep fall in stock prices and became
a worldwide phenomenon when
the stock market officially crashed
on October 29, 1929, a dark day
in the history of humankind more
popularly known as ‘Black Tuesday’.
The Depression had catastrophic
effects on both the rich and the poor.
While the rich could at least try to
rise from the ashes, the poor did not
even have those ashes left to rise
from. For them, it was all gloomy.
Unemployment rates were immensely
high and nobody had any idea what
to do next.
Lange along with her husband worked
for the Resettlement Administration
and FSA. They wanted to bring
forth the problems and difficulties of
the poor people whom the others
had comfortably erased from their
memory. Her husband interviewed
these people which mainly comprised
of migrant workers, sharecroppers and
displaced families and she captured
their troubles. One of the most iconic
photos she took was ‘The Migrant
Mother’ in 1936.
The Migrant Mother is a photograph
of a middle-aged woman who is
probably destitute. Her clothes are
unkempt. She is not alone. Two of her
children are leaning on to her from
both sides and is holding a baby in
her lap. Worry has aged her face.
She has a sad and distant look in her
eyes. The woman has been identified
as Florence Owens Thompson. This
photo was taken when Lange was
driving past the Pea Pickers Camp.
She had already passed this pace
but some unknown force pulled her
back. She was almost as if “drawn
by a magnet”. As soon as she saw
38 CLASSICS
this woman, she went to her with her
camera. Thompson was so indifferent
to this that she did not even ask any
questions. She was too preoccupied
with her own plight. She told Lange
her age and the pathetic conditions
they had been living in. The crops
had frozen that year and she was out
of employment. They were surviving
on frozen vegetables and the birds
killed by the children. But now they
had nothing left. So, she had sold the
tires from her car in order to procure
food and feed her hungry children.
Thompson thought that Lange
clicking her pictures might assist
her in the sense that her conditions
could improve, so she had no qualms
about getting her picture clicked. It
was anyway not as if she was busy.
She was worried sick about her family
instead.
Lange showed the photos to her
editor and told her about the dire
circumstances those people were
living in. The editor, in turn, told
the federal authorities and also
published an article regarding it in
the newspaper. The government’s
attention turned to this place and
help was promptly provided. The
government sent 20,000 pounds of
food in order to prevent starvation.
No doubt Lange’s photos had a
positive impact on the lives of such
underprivileged people but who
knows how bad the entire condition
was. There must have been millions
of people all over the world who were
going through similar circumstances
but maybe nobody paid them any
attention and they lived life miserably
for as long as they were alive and died
in an even miserable scenario. Who
knows? The truth is ghastly and not all
of us have the courage to know it and
then live with it.
Saman Waheed
[email protected]
Saman Waheed, like all writers, loves
writing about each and everything under
the sun. An indoor person , she loves to sit
back and just travel to another world, lost
in her thoughts. She loves the company of
books as they take her to places she has
never been.