Dorothea Lange was already famous as a photographer of the Great Depression with her stark and harrowing images creating what can only be termed as a sensation. Her stark and no hold barred imagery of the sheer poverty and destitution found in the Depression rankled people’s hearts and created a sense of outrage.
Lange was commissioned by the War Department to take photographs of the Japanese internment that took place just after Pearl Harbour. Although she was working for the War Relocation Authority, Lange was definitely not prepared for the sheer scale of civil rights abuses that were caused by the displacement of Japanese-Americans from their natural homes deep into the West. These were little more than concentration camps and Lange set about documenting this story with her usual verve and vigour.
Lange’s photography brings out the stark human drama to which these Japanese Americans were subjected to. The Whitney Museum exhibited several of these photographs in an aptly titled exhibition called ‘Executive Order 9066’ that featured 27 of the photographs Lange took during the internment. They range from several vacant expressions as the families clutch their few precious belongings as they are moved away to the West, to other equally more poignant photographs showing the shocking crudity of the facilities.
Lange’s conflict is visually apparent especially in the way some photographs are portrayed. The photographs are documents of a truly inspired order since they visually and graphically convey the emotions of the victims as well as documentation of the actual facts of the crime. The power of her photography cannot be denied.
Works Cited:
Milton Meltzer, Dorothea Lange: A Photographer's Life New York, 1978, ISBN 978-0-8156-0622-2
Linda Gordon, Dorothea Lange, Encyclopedia of the Depression
