A Conversation with the Voiceless Essay by: Héctor Marroquín
And the migrants streamed in on the highways and their hunger was in their eyes, and their need was in their eyes. They had no argument, no system, nothing but their numbers and their needs. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939
A Conversation with the Voiceless As society moves toward a future rooted in the pursuit of economic improvement, avoiding the faces of the less fortunate becomes an easier task. Compassion in the new age has shifted toward a life centered in excess, and social connections today are established through wireless communications. Photography in the handheld era seems to be a fickle notion that isn’t viewed with the same interest. There are however photographers that will capture an essence with such authority that the audience has no option but to pay attention. Contemporary photojournalists such as Matt Black and Tomas Munita document the struggles of the unheard today in the same fashion that Dorothea Lange did during The Great Depression. Lange’s 1936 Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California served as a picture of the despair during one of America’s toughest times and set the stage for future generations of photographers to create work of social significance (fig 1). In order to truly grasp the power of Dorothea Lange’s photo, one needs to have an understanding of the economic conditions that were sweeping the nation during The Great Depression. The early 20th century gave rise to industrialization and along with that came consumerism and excessive consumption leading to debt. In 1929 the consumer debt was at an all time high of $7 billion, double the size of the federal budget (Shwartz 28). The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the prelude to The Great Depression, an economic slow down that would span 10 years. The economic downturn coupled with the fall of agricultural production from the effects of The Dust Bowl created an era of unrest for Americans in the central and southwest regions. 01
Figure 1. Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California.1936. Photograph. A destitute 32 year-old mother surrounded by three of her hungry children at a pea picking camp in California during The Dust Bowl encapsulates the struggle of migrant workers.
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The term “Dust Bowl” first appeared in print on April 15th 1935 and referenced a hot, dry and windy area of the Southern Great Plains (Shumsky 218). The ecological conditions such as enormous dust storms and long-term drought during the '30s triggered a mass westward migration. An estimated 2.5 million people left the plains states by 1940 (American). The influx of migrants in California put a strain on resources and jobs resulting in an era of hardship that is depicted with raw emotional power in Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California. The central figure in the photo is that of a hungry and desperate mother by the name of Florence Owens Thompson (Phelan). Her face shows signs of aging and her eyes are directed in a gaze of uncertainty. Each of her shoulders is occupied by hungry children who hide their face and in her lap she clutches a sleeping infant. The triangular composition leads the viewers eye through the photo and reveals a clear narrative about the dire conditions during the time. Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California circulated throughout newspapers across the country rapidly. Florence Owens Thompson’s face became the face of the depression era and a symbol of suffering. According to James C. Curtis, Migrant Mother is a “timeless and universal symbol of suffering in the face of adversity” and has been called “the most famous documentary photograph of the 1930’s” (Curtis 1). The publication of the photo sparked a national awareness and as a result of the photo’s ubiquitous influence, donations soon started to arrive at the pea-pickers camp in which the photo was taken (Dorothea). Lange’s photo proved that photography could benefit beyond the artist’s self interest and had the potential to act as a catalyst for positive change. The power of the printed newspaper which was advantageous for Lange has taken a backseat. News today is provided through a series of outlets including television, internet and social media. Documentary photography in the digital age reaches a broad range of people throughout the world but is quickly overshadowed by the constant flow of news and imagery taken by everyday citizens through the use of handheld cellular phones equipped with cameras. Aproximately 45% of adult users in the United States are online image creators (Guerrero 23). 03
Figure 2. Matt Black. A Family at Home. 2013. Photograph. Matt Black brings the poverty of indigenous families in Guerro, Mexico to light through his photography.
Figure 3. Tomas Munita. Ronhingya’s Concentration Camp, Sittwe, Myanmar. 2015. Photograph. 12-year-old Oma Salema holds her 1-year-old undernourished brother at a concentration camp in Myanmar.
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On the other hand, there is currently a small amount of artists that use a camera to transcend the boundaries of photography much in the same way that Dorothea Lange did with her Migrant Mother photo. Matt Black captures an essence that seems to reflect Lange’s Migrant Mother closely in his photo titled A Family at Home (fig 2). Tomas Munita depicts a young girl holding her undernourished 1-year-old brother at a camp in Sittewe, Burma in another image that bares a close resemblance to Lange’s photo (fig 3). Photos of this nature evoke a sense of compassion on behalf of an audience and displays vulnerability of the subjects in the composition. Dorothea Lange’s photo of Florence Owens Thompson and her children proved that photography had the power to ignite social change in modern America. Visual producers in today’s world have a responsibility to create work that will influence future generations to do good for humanity. Lange’s spirit resonates strongly through the lens of photographers that capture injustice across the world and gives a voice to the voiceless.
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Works Cited American Experience. “Surviving the Dust Bowl.” 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/ wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/dustbowl-introduction/> 15. February 2016, American Experience Curtis, James C.. “Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and the Culture of the Great Depression”. Winterthur Portfolio 21.1 (1986): 1–20. Web... Dorothea Lange [Electronic Resource (Video)] : Grab A Hunk Of Lightning / Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.). n.p.: New York, N.Y. : Films Media Group, [2014], c2014., 2014. Texas State - Alkek Library’s Catalog. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. Gordon, Linda. “Dorothea Lange: Photographer As Agricultural Sociologist.” Journal Of American History 93.3 (2006): 698-727. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. Guerrero García, Virginia, and Bella Palomo. “The Crisis Of Photojournalism: Rethinking The Profession In A Participatory Media Ecosystem.” Communication & Society (2015): 33-48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. Phelan, Ben. “The Story of the Migrant Mother.” PBS. n.p, 4 April 2014. Web. 15 February 2016. Porter, Jess. “What Was The Dust Bowl? Assessing Contemporary Popular Knowledge.” Population & Environment 35.4 (2014): 391-416. Sustainability Reference Center. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. Schwartz, Eric. “The Great Depression.” Super Power: Americans Today (2004): 26. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. Shumsky, Neil Larry. “Dust, Disease, Death And Deity: Constructing And Deconstructing The ‘Dust Bowl’.” Journal Of American Culture 38.3 (2015): 218231. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Image Citations Lange, Dorothea. Dust Bowl farm. Coldwater District, north of Dalhart, Texas. This house is occupied; most of the houses in this district have been abandoned. 1938. Photograph. Library of Congress. < http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ cph.3c30634/> Lange, Dorothea. Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California. 1936. Photograph. Library of Congress. < http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b29516/> Black, Matt. A Family at Home. 2013. Photograph. < http://www.mattblack.com/thepeople-of-clouds/xy7zccs20ob6vjfsa1u9z1lxap36ty> Munita, Tomas. Ronhingyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Concentration Camp, Sittwe, Myanmar. 2015. Photograph. The New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/world/asia/ myanmar-to-bar-rohingya-from-fleeing-but-wont-address-their-plight.html>