0:06[Steven]: We're in the LACMA Study Center for Photography and Works on Paper, looking at one of the most famous images in American history, Migrant Mother. 0:17This is a photograph that (be) taken by Dorothea Lange 0:19during the Dust Bowl, during the Depression. 0:21[Eve]: And the Great Depression (be) instigated by a financial crisis, 0:25but there (be) also an agricultural crisis, 0:27which (be) the overplanting that (happen) 0:29in the Midwest, and those fields (become) nonfertile, 0:34and dust bowls (be) created. 0:36So that entire farming community (be) at risk, 0:39simultaneous to the rest of the United States seriously spiraling because of the stock market crash. 0:47Florence Owens Thompson (be) a migrant worker, 0:50which (mean), as it does today, 0:51that she (move) to areas where the picking (be). 0:55In this case, in Northern California, 0:57when Dorothea Lange (be) visiting a pea picker camp. 1:01[Steven]: It's hard to overstate the drama of this moment at its height in 1932, just four years 1:07before this photograph (be) taken, 1:0925% of Americans (be) unemployed, 1/4 of the work force. 1:13[Eve]: Many of the migrant workers that (come) to California (be) those 1:17that (have) to leave the Dust Bowl, 1:19famously referred to as Okies, 1:21because most of them (be) from Oklahoma and surrounding regions. 1:24[Steven]: And that (be) a derogatory term 1:26that (be) applied to these migrant workers 1:28by people who already (live) in California. 1:30[Eve]: They (be) nearly destitute, 1:32making a trek west, but Florence Owens Thompson (come) west 1:37with her husband prior to the Dust Bowl. 1:39So when Dorothea and Florence (cross) paths, 1:43Dorothea Lange (be) on assignment 1:45by the Resettlement Administration, 1:47which eventually (become) what (be) known 1:50as the Farm Security Administration. 1:52Both of those entities (be) run by the US government, 1:55and it (be) the Roosevelt New Deal 1:58that (put) forth many of these new policies. 2:00[Steven]: So we're seeing an overly... an overlay of two stories. 2:04A larger economic and political story, 2:06but also a very deeply personal biographical story. 2:10[Eve]: We have available to us 2:12through the Farm Security Administration records 2:15all the iterations of the photo shoot she (have) 2:18on the fly, on the road, just outside this pea picker camp. 2:22She (be) lucky to find Florence there, 2:24because there (be) a freeze overnight, 2:26and Florence (be) there because she (be) not working. 2:30But you can see the options that she (have) 2:33to tell an empathetic tale, a realistic tale. 2:36Any photographic image inherently carries 2:39a wealth of truth to the viewer 2:41that is not necessarily an actual fact. 2:44It (be) a creation of the photographer's. 2:46So she has (wait) for that moment, 2:48for Florence to be gazing rather forlornly 2:51into the distance, and the two children (huddle) by her side. 2:55[Steven]: And if you look closely, 2:56you can just make out a third child, 2:58a baby at her breast. 3:00And so she is literally framed by these children 3:03who depend on her. 3:04[Eve]: During the Depression, 3:05in the cities, it (be) very obvious 3:07with the food lines and the worker's strikes 3:10that there (be) a lot of strife, 3:12and everyone (be) suffering. 3:13What (be not) really known (be) the migrant worker 3:16and small farming endeavors, 3:19and so the object (be) to paint a picture and make sure 3:22that they (be) also taken care of during this time. 3:25[Steven]: So this raises an issue 3:27which is central to the identity of photography. 3:29Does photography document? 3:30And can photography be fine art as well? 3:34[Eve]: I think both. 3:35She obviously could have choosen to have distance. 3:37That (will) be more of a document, 3:39because you have more context. 3:41What she's chosen to do is create her own narrative, 3:44the story of the caring mother 3:46who is carrying the weight of the world, her many children. 3:49[Steven]: And that close lens, that (create) an intimacy 3:51that makes me even more empathetic. 3:54And it's important to remember that the 1930s, 3:57in the first years of the New Deal, 3:59 (be) a moment when people could starve in the United States, 4:02where social programs (be) just now being put into place 4:05as a kind of social safety net. 4:07[Eve]: So Dorothea Lange (be) on assignment. 4:08She's been given a directive by Roy Stryker. 4:11He (assign) her very broad topics. 4:14Cooking, sleeping, praying, and socializing, 4:18and then you see what she (produce). 4:20And that goes to your point about a document 4:22versus a fine art photograph, 4:24and one can be both. 4:26[Steven]: But this (be) art that (be) meant 4:27to move us emotionally. 4:29It (be) meant to rally support for the work 4:32that the government (be) doing. 4:33And this photograph (do) have immediate impact. 4:36It (be) reproduced almost immediately in newspapers 4:39in San Francisco and Sacramento, 4:41and the pea pickers who (be) on the edge 4:44of starvation (be) given aid. 4:46[Eve]: And then it just (become) an image 4:48that (be) everywhere. 4:49We (have) someone to be empathetic about 4:52that (allow) us to feel emotional about the situation, 4:55but yet hopeful. 4:56[Steven]: Dorothea Lange really (succeed). 5:00She (be) trying to produce an image 5:00that would capture this particular woman, 5:03but would also create a universal symbol, 5:05and she (be) so successful that it has become the image 5:08that comes to mind first when we think of the Dust Bowl, 5:11when we think of the Great Depression, 5:13when we think of migrant labor. 5:15[Eve]: When we think of America pulling itself 5:17out of troubles, too. 5:18It reminds me also of Dorothea's background, 5:21which is a third generation American. 5:24She (be) able to go to Columbia in New York 5:27and study photography, but she also (have) a lot 5:29of personal problems, she (suffer) from polio. 5:32She has a great quote, when she refers to her ailment, 5:35which (leave) her with a pretty serious limp. 5:37"It (form) me, (guide) me, (instruct) me, 5:40 (help) me, and (humiliate) me." 5:42"I never have gotten over it, 5:43and I'm aware of the force and power of it." 5:46[Steven]: It does seem to me that somebody who (suffer) polio might have a kind 5:50of highly developed empathy, and that empathy seems to have informed photographs like this. 5:56This image has come to represent migratory labor 5:59in the United States during the Depression, 6:01but the story (be) actually 6:02a little more complicated than that. 6:04The subject of this photograph (be) at the heart 6:06of a larger story of migration. 6:08She (be) Cherokee. 6:09And the reason that she (have) been born in Oklahoma 6:13is most likely because of the forced migration 6:16of Cherokees from the Southeastern United States 6:19early in the 19th century 6:20into what (be) then known as Indian Territory, 6:23this we call the Trail of Tears. 6:25And so, although this photograph is understood 6:27to represent the migrations of the 1930s, 6:31it also represents the migrations of the 1830s. 6:34[Eve]: It's to be questioned 6:36how this (will) have been perceived 6:38if the title of this image (be) not as anonymous as Migrant Mother.