Personal Impact Asessment

Object: Adjective: Association:

clothing dirty poor

woman mother concern

baby sleeping unconscious

family intimate love

face wrinkled worry

skin weathered hard work

shoulders strong support

back of heads tousled exhaustion

photograph black and white historical context

tent shabby instability

fingers slender grace

fingers curled dependence

hand poised thoughtfulness

eyes distant sorrow

mouth set determination

hair unkept hurry

wrinkles deep age

necks exposed vulnerability

So what I gleaned from this photograph was that a mother aged by lifestyle, hard work and the worry of farming, was the pillar of strength in this family. The father figure, whether he exists or not, was inconsequential in the frame of time captured. The mother's eyes look to the distance while her children's eyes are buried in her shoulder. This implies that the children's world does not extend much farther than their mother; they look to her to absolve their worries. Her eyes trained on the distance imply that she was looking for external sources of help; she was questioning whether her sole strength was enough. This woman was strong and determined and managed to find resources in unexpected places. Their poverty was evident, especially given the historical context of the dust bowl and the amount of farmers who found themselves in similar positions.

Just a slight addition: I had a "trick" suggested to me. Blow up the image and focus on the woman's face. Try covering half of her face and viewing one side and then switching and covering the half you just viewed. The effect is like seeing two very different photographs: one side is the extreme sadness and desperation--the calling out of the eyes for help. The other side is determination--her mouth is set, her eyes sharp. This is kind of a neat experiment that I want to continue with photographs of faces.