Grandfather and grandson of Japanese ancestry at a War Relocation Authority center, Manzanar, California 1942

Dorothea Lange made this photograph of a grandfather and grandson using a camera, film, and darkroom processes. While seemingly straightforward, photography is always an act of construction, an intervention. Consider how the sharpness of focus makes the subjects appear to emerge from the blank background. Lange captured this image at Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center where Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. Knowing this context, the material qualities of the photograph take on deeper meaning. The careful composition, combined with the tonal range achieved through darkroom techniques, elevates the subjects, drawing attention to their humanity in the face of systemic dehumanization. This image isn't just a document, it's an act of witness and a powerful statement against injustice. It reminds us that even within the most brutal circumstances, individual dignity persists, and that photographic processes can be used to amplify it.