Discuss And Analyse Two Photographic Images Using

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Discuss and analyse two photographic images using a general visual cultural studies approach. ‘To interpret images is to examine the assumptions that we and others bring to them, and to decode the visual language that they speak’ (Sturken and Cartwright, 2001) For this essay I intend to adopt a general visual cultural studies approach to analyse two photographs. They are the ‘Migrant Mother’ by Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) and ‘Madonna with Children’ by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79). At first glance the two images share similarities in the fact that they have both been taken by female photographers, are both portraits and also display parallel elements of composition. Throughout this essay I will be discussing the different methodologies that are concerned within this approach and I aim to reveal the very different ideologies that these images uphold within our society. Image 1 The first image I am going to look at is ‘Migrant Mother’ photographed by Dorothea Lange in Nipomo, California, USA. March 1936. It is a close cropped black and white portrait that shows a centrally composed mother and her three children dressed in ragged clothes that look like they have fallen on hard times. It evokes a sombre mood as well as being reminiscent of a religious theme. Two of the children are leaning into the mother’s shoulders and are facing away from the camera as the mother cradles her sleeping baby in the protective crook of one arm, while the other is raised to her chin. Her weathered face is showing a look of grief but also communicating an air of resolve. (Marien, 2010) There are no background details or social symbols present in this image so I shall begin by using a Marxist methodology to analyse this picture to gain an insight into American culture of the 1930’s. Karl Marx was opposed to formalism where style and form prevailed over content, as
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