Picture this. The Great Depression, that seismic moment in history that shook America to its very core, is in full swing. Amidst this struggle and strife, a woman stands with her camera, intent on telling the story of this turbulent era. This woman is none other than Dorothea Lange, an influential photographer whose empathetic lens captured the heart of America during its most trying times.
See IMAGO’s archive from Dorothea Lange, the documentary photographer and read how her groundbreaking work became a symbol of the Great Depression in the United States in the 20th century.
“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother as if drawn by a magnet.”
Lange was born in 1895 in New Jersey. In the 1920s, she initially started as a portrait photographer, which was common at that time. Although she was known and successful in this type of photography, Lange soon started portraying people in the street instead of in the studio. Life changed dramatically for her after witnessing the homeless, unemployed masses struggling to survive on the city streets during the Great Depression. This experience moved her deeply, inspiring a shift in her career. Lange turned her lens towards documenting the world around her, setting the stage for her groundbreaking work in social documentary photography.
Her most iconic photograph, “Migrant Mother,” captures the essence of her work and the profound influence she had on photography. At a camp full of farmhands whose lives were turned upside down after the pea crop failed, Dorothea Lange captured the image of the migrant mother during the Great Depression in the United States. The picture depicts a mother and the children in her immediate vicinity; her eyes are drained with sorrow and sadness. Through this photograph, Florence Owens Thompson, who was identified years later, became a symbol of the hardship of Americans during the Great Depression.
Lange, who worked for the United States government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA), later recalled: “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother as if drawn by a magnet.” The image is a haunting representation of despair, yet it also portrays resilience in the face of adversity. It was a stark wake-up call to the world about the human suffering caused by the Great Depression.
Photographing World War II
Lange’s work extended beyond the Great Depression era. During World War II, she was commissioned by the War Relocation Authority to document the forced evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans. Lange’s photographs documented life in the concentration camps and the raw feelings of those who had been uprooted from their homes and forced to live there.
Lange’s photography was a compelling blend of art and activism. She used her camera not just to document but to provoke thought and stimulate social change. “Bad as it is, the world is potentially full of good photographs. But to be good, photographs have to be full of the world,” she describes a good photograph and its impact on the world later. Her impact was not confined to her contemporaries but also shaped the future of photojournalism. Lange’s influence is evident in the works of subsequent generations of photographers who strived to expose social injustices.
Throughout her career, Lange insisted on the power of photography to highlight social issues and spark change. Her work is a testament to the profound potential of a single image to evoke emotion, incite action, and immortalize moments in history. Dorothea Lange used her lens as a voice for the voiceless, transforming photography into a tool for social commentary and change.
See IMAGO’s photos from Dorothea Lange here.
