“Child and her Mother” by Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange’s photographs of the Dust Bowl in the “Women in Photography” exhibit emit intense emotions of sorrow and sympathy. In particular, “Child and her Mother, Wapato, Yakima Valley, Washington” influenced me on a basic and emotional level. The connective role “Child and her Mother” plays in its subject makes it a valuable contribution to the exhibit.
Seeing Lange’s Dust Bowl photographs in person was a powerful encounter for me. I had seen Lange’s works in textbooks and online sources before, but viewing them as physical prints helped me penetrate the scenes of poverty and experience the people’s pain and suffering in the closest way possible, beside actually witnessing the events in person. Details of the physical print, such as the way light hits their faces or how the shadows of the daughter’s dark hair frame her gloomy expression, help convey the mother and daughter’s hardships clearer.
The educator who explained Lange’s pieces brought up a few points about photojournalism that helped deepen my interpretation of the works. She mentioned how photojournalism is a life-changing art form because it implies that the photographer has an obligation to show the truth in his or her work. Photojournalism, especially in a historical period as intense as the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, also creates a complicated relationship between the photographer and the subject. I believe that the relationship shared between Dorothea Lange, the mother in “Child and her Mother,” and even the viewer is bound together with a common thread; all we can do is observe a painful scenario that cannot be changed. The child’s mother can only watch her daughter suffer, Lange can only capture their hopelessness, and I can only sympathize for a family that I wish I could have helped.
“Child and her Mother” is an intense work because it displays cold truth in its most natural form. Lange’s ability to capture emotions through her photojournalism is remarkable, and being able to connect to it through the “Women in Photography” exhibit was especially inspiring.
“The Hug” by Nan Goldin
Numerous photographs in the “Women in Photography” exhibit displayed influential and disturbing subject matter. One piece in particular, “The Hug, New York City” by Nana Goldin, stood out to me as a frightening but inspiring work. The photograph’s elements, especially its focal point, composition, usage of color, and emphasis on details, contribute to the mysterious and haunting quality it holds in the exhibit.
The photograph features an unknown woman’s bare back, an area of the body typically associated with vulnerability and exposure. She has a head full of messy dark hair that reaches off of the canvas and provides a feeling of violence, as if it has been involuntarily tampered with. Perhaps one of the most powerful parts of the photograph is the muscular male arm gripped firmly against the woman’s waist. Both of their faces are unseen, and the man’s dark shadow blends into the woman’s hair as if he is engulfing her. The piece carries an ominous aura with the hint of blue present in the woman’s dress, her hair, and the surrounding walls and furniture. The fact that the couple is slightly off-center and leading outside of the canvas creates worrisome turbulence in the piece.
When I first came across “The Hug” in the exhibit area, a mixture of fearful thoughts came to mind. I immediately wanted to remove the girl in the blue dress from the eerie room and threatening man to bring her to a safe place. The piece’s punk rock New York City location along with Goldin’s observational style of photography made feel more melancholy; both factors suggest that it may have been an actual event rather than a posed picture.
Nan Goldin’s “The Hug” thrives with artistic elements meant to startle its viewers. Goldin’s contributions to the “Women in Photography” exhibit, though morbid and raw, provided interesting insight into her perspective of America in the 1980s that I appreciated observing.
