Ahead of the opening of Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing, at the Jeu de Paume (October 16, 2018–January 27, 2019), this discussion between Abigail Solomon-Godeau, professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of multiple publications on photography, and Pia Viewing, co-curator of the exhibition, will shed light on Lange’s socially engaged work made during the Great Depression and World War II in the United States.
From 1935 to 1939, Lange captured the plight of workers fleeing the Dust Bowl, when drought devastated the Midwest and its agricultural production, creating images that have since become icons of US photographic history. During the 1940s, she documented the internment of Japanese Americans and the migration of laborers who contributed to the war effort at the Richmond, California, shipyards. Lange’s commitment to such subjects offers valuable insight on this period in US history, when fundamental changes marked the social evolution of the country.
This event, held as part of the annual Semaine des cultures étrangères, organized by the Forum des instituts culturels étrangers à Paris (FICEP), is free and open to the public. It will be held in French. Please RSVP by September 24 to: [email protected] or +33 1 43 20 67 01.