Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Wiki & Abstracts (no. 35) - Dorthea Lange



Dorthea Lange is a photographer who documented the Great Depression and the Japanese Americans who were relocated after Pearl Harbor. Dorthea Lange was not afraid of controversy and sought to push truth in a photograph. What made Lange special is that she truly cared about her subjects. She saw inequality and wished to put the reality of what poor and desperate really means in America right into peoples faces.

Here are some photos of her work during the Great Depression featuring a migrant family and out of work farmers :





Lange's work of the Japanese relocation camps during World War II after Pearl Harbor reflected the racism and cultural ignorance that sprung from fear. The pictures below are of racism, Japanese Americans, and the interment camps the Japanese Americans were relocated to without a choice.








This type of racism and ignorance continues on today, especially after 9/11. Interesting how history repeats itself, huh?
Photography is a way to capture truth and educate us on our mistakes.


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