Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Dorothea Lange began documenting the struggles of migrant workers along the Pacific coast for the California Relief Administration in 1935. She continued this theme as a FSA photographer (1935-39). In October of 1939 she produced a series of over seventy photographs of farm life in Malheur County, Oregon. Among these images were several examples of the region's characteristic "poor man's" sod structures, including this Friends church. While Lange is best known for her images of individual faces, she also took group portraits of people and their environments. Here the congregation is seen leaving the church after Sunday service. Lange sought to go beyond mere physical appearances to reveal how institutions, such as religion, influenced the people's lives. Even the domestic sod dwellings often included religious references--a family saying grace, a piano for practicing church hymns, and a blackboard for recording daily bible verses. In the face of economic hardships, the church provided a welcoming solace, sense of communal pride, and a hope for a better future for the children.