Question

In one to two paragraphs, explain how changing context and interpretation have influenced viewpoints of Dorothea Lange’s portrait "Migrant Mother.” In your analysis, be sure to include the photograph’s meaning amid changing social, economic, and political climates, as well as the photograph’s value to photojournalism. Include supporting evidence in the form of details, statistics, facts, or quotations.

Answer 1

Florence Thompson allowed Dorothea Lange to photograph her family in 1936 because she believed it would benefit the working poor. Her daughter later said, "She always wanted a better life." Lange took a total of six photographs. Dorothea Lange took a very popular photograph in 1936 while working for the US government's Farm Security Administration, which was established during the Great Depression to raise awareness of poor farmers and provide assistance to them. The picture of a worried but strong mother was so influential that it inspired the government to send 20,000 pounds of food to a migrant worker camp to alleviate malnutrition, and it may have influenced John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.

100% on Edge:)

Answer 2

A picture says more than a 1000 words

Step-by-step explanation:

When D. Lange made the photograph (1930s) the world was less accustomed to images than 90 years later. Photographs of human misery can still be very confronting but due to the (visual) information overload we are exposed to, we might not relate to it as much as we used to (or should) do.

There is also an interesting shift in the relation of the photographer and his/her object. As D. Lange remembered there was a sort of mutual interest (to help one another) when the Migrant Mother gave her permision for the picture to be taken. Nowadays it is has more layers: financial interests , protection of privacy and the abuse of other person´s misery are always looming in the background (of a photograph).

I remember a publicity campaign of a fashion company that used AIDS patients in order to reach its publicity goal. It would have been nice if they had showed a little more ethical consciousness... taking for example Dorothea Lange's work.