Migrant Mother Case Study

            I think the most fascinating aspect of Migrant Mother’s iconic success are the disconnects between photographer Dorothea Lange, the subject of the photograph herself, and the intended purpose of the photograph. The FSA project’s goal was to create an objective and statistical picture of the rural poor, but Lange’s photograph possessed a much more emotional and human element. A mother’s hand rests on her chin as she stares pensively into the distance, a baby in her lap, while her older children lean their heads against her shoulders, turned away from the camera. It is a sentimental portrait, one that grabs at the human capability for empathy. Interestingly, though the photograph is able to make a connection with people, it seems as though Lange did not make much of a connection with the woman in the photograph. “I did not ask her name or her history,” says Lange. Furthermore, while the photograph has become a powerful and historically valuable image reproduced over and over as a representation of the Depression era, the woman and her family’s life did not improve as a result of this photo’s success – they saw no money at all. I very recently had a conversation with Dan Buttrey, UConn’s DASL technician, about something similar. We were discussing street photography, and how people would recognize themselves in gallery photographs and proceed to sue the photographer for including them in their work. They would lose every time. I said that if I were to make money off of a photo that included somebody in public, I would want to compensate that person in some way. He said that that wasn’t “thinking like a photographer,” that it’s your photograph and your aesthetic decision to include a particular subject in your work, and therefore the “model,” knowingly or not, is not entitled to compensation. I have trouble applying that statement to Migrant Mother, mainly because the family’s poverty is basically the subject of the image. I realize Lange’s objective in making the photograph was not financial gain, but it makes me wonder what value historical documentation really has if the people in the photographs only exist in photographs. What is the point of creating awareness and bringing attention to the plights and lives of people if it doesn’t instigate change? Perhaps I would have to do more research to see how this particular photograph may have initiated change on a larger scale, but just knowing that Florence Thompson lived the rest of her life seemingly fairly poor makes me question how documentary photography can change to make change.