Well’s “Image
Analysis: The Example of Migrant Mother,”
is particularly interesting because it explores the complexities of examining a
photograph. One aspect I thought I found to be interesting was when Wells
questions why this one photograph of Migrant Mother had become so famous when
Lange took so many, similar, supplemental photographs.
Part of this,
Wells explains, can be attributed to the woman used “purely as subject.” The
mother is centered, framed by her two children. There is little reference to
her surroundings, and as a result her name and history are not significant
aspects. Instead the photograph acts as a symbolic embodiment of mother and
child.
The purity in
the representation of mother and child evokes the idea of universality. Well’s
mentions the opinion of Roy Stryker, in which he states, “she happens to be
badly dressed. It was bad conditions. But she’s still a mother and she had
children.” This idea allows the photograph to transcend the portraiture and
comment on a “humanitarian notion of universal similarities in the condition of
humankind.”
I found it disappointing
to discover that the mother did not benefit from the photographs. Especially
following the artist’s account in which she speaks of a “sort of equality.”
This is where the idea of universal condition of humankind becomes less
comforting, because although there is a shared sense of motherhood, the quality
of life is drastically disproportionate. All of these concepts are interesting because
they reveal the many truths a photograph can hold.
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