The artwork, titled “Child and Her Mother, Wapato, Yakima Valley, Washington, 1939,” was created by Dorothea Lange in 1965. It belongs to the Social Realism art movement and its genre is photography. The photograph portrays a poignant scene from the American Great Depression era, emblematic of Lange’s significant contributions to Social Realism through her documentation of human struggles and resilience.
In the artwork, a young girl stands in the foreground, leaning over a barbed wire fence, her face etched with an expression of somber contemplation. She is dressed in a floral-patterned dress with a Peter Pan collar, emphasizing the simplicity and modesty of her attire. In the background, her mother can be seen shielding her eyes from the sun, her body posture reflecting an air of weariness. The mother’s dress, adorned with a checkered pattern and apron, further accentuates the modest lifestyle of the subjects. The barren, desolate landscape around them starkly contrasts with the intricate details of their clothing, underscoring the harsh realities they face. The photograph, through its composition and subject matter, effectively conveys the emotional weight and socio-economic hardships of the time.
