Child of impoverished Negro tenant family working on farm, Alabama 1936

Dorothea Lange made this photograph of a child working on a farm in Alabama. The limited palette, the greys and near blacks, allow the eye to focus on the posture of the figure and the landscape. It’s all about the way the light reveals and conceals. Look at how the light glances off the child’s hat, how the textures of the soil are brought out by shadow, how the horizon is pale and almost white. It’s like we’re right there in the moment, feeling the weight of the sun, and of the work. There’s something so direct about the contrast between the dark soil and the child’s labour. The composition is built on contrasts between light and shadow. Lange's work reminds me a bit of the approach of Walker Evans, where everyday scenes are captured with such a clear eye, they become almost iconic. Like a lot of art, it’s not just about one thing, it’s about seeing the world in a new way.