Case Study: Migrant Mother Response

One of the more troubling issues of documentary photography is the relationship between subject and photographer. In many ways, documentary photography can be an exploitation or objectification of a person, while also acting as a historical or otherwise significant document. The ethical issues surrounding this form of photography are complex, especially in the case of photography meant to document and perhaps change social issues, such as Lange’s work in the FSA. For example, in the case of Migrant Mother, is it fair that Lange used Florence Thompson’s image in the name of “social change” and “equality”, when Lange subsequently became famous and Thompson faded into obscurity and poverty? Or, when an image such as Migrant Mother becomes so widely reproduced and is able to incite social change, is the sacrifice worth it? As documentary photography and photojournalism have blurred over the years, I would argue that these issues become even more complicated and problematic. Two images that come to mind are the more recent case of the photographer who photographed a man moments before being run over by a train in the NYC subway, and the (less recent) image of an emaciated child being stalked by a vulture in Africa. These photographs launched the photographers into perhaps infamy, while the fate of the subject is either unknown or tragic. Is there a line that has been crossed, or is that photographer doing their job to document a current event?