Tracy (vicinity), California. Missouri family of five 1937

Editor: Dorothea Lange's photograph, "Tracy (vicinity), California. Missouri family of five," captures a poignant moment of roadside life. The starkness of the landscape and the family's meager possessions evoke a sense of hardship. What symbols do you see at play here? Curator: The overloaded vehicle, a modern-day ark, immediately speaks to displacement and the search for refuge. Notice how the mother figure is centered, her actions anchoring the composition; a Madonna of the road, perhaps? What emotions do you sense emanating from her gestures? Editor: There's a tenderness, a protectiveness, but also exhaustion. It's like she is enacting an ancient ritual in a desolate new world. Curator: Precisely. The photograph serves as a potent reminder of the enduring human spirit amidst adversity, echoing universal themes of migration and resilience. Editor: I hadn't considered the deeper, symbolic resonance of the image. Now I see it as a portrait of survival, echoing through time.