Case Study: Migrant Mother

In this Case study it discusses Lange’s photograph, Migrant Mother. She was assigned on a government project called Farm Security Administration (FSA).  In this case study it mentions how this is one of the most reproduced image in the history of photography. It has powerful symbolic meaning that is reflected through the title and the subject. The absence of the father, her gaze, and the emotion the scene of mother and child creates is popular because it is a documentary picture that stood for the realities of America. While reading this case study I could not help but think of the image of Che Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico by Alberto Korda in the 1960s. Both of these images were mass-produced for the viewer to support causes that may or may not have strayed from the original context of the image. In Migrant Mother the viewer was not given her name, and remained as an iconic Virgin and Child photograph. Similarly, for Guerrillero Heroico most people will wear his image and not know his history either, but because it is such a strong photograph it inspires hope for the viewer. This desperate hungry mother represented the depression in the 1930s. It stood for the damaged femininity that the depression caused and the strength the females had to keep their families together. Lange was considered the “mother” of documentary from this image, and it brought her great success. Ironically, the female subject in the image commented on the image 50 years later saying that even though she was proud of it, it brought her no good. To me, the use of documentary photography is to inspire change for the better, and I am not so sure it did in the right places.