Professor Michele Marits

English 112

September 1, 2008

Immigration: What about the women and children?

            The faces of women can strike various different feelings, views, and opinions to an audience by use of a simple photograph, painting, or personal interaction at varying distances.  The selected photograph, taken from an online archive presented by the Public Broadcasting System, was amongst a few highlighted that depicted photography from a cultural perspective.  The selected photographs highlighted people from different ethnic backgrounds and were taken by people from that culture.  Specifically, the image being analyzed was taken by Joseph Rodriquez who was a part of the Mexican Migrant Project.  In more detail, the content is simply two women, one older and one younger.  The image is arranged to show the less worried woman in front and the younger more anxious looking female in the background of the photo.  The dynamics are such that one can tell the two individuals are in some type of doorway, probably to their home, and show the two people in a contemplative state, waiting or hoping for someone or something to happen.  The genre of this photograph is a portrait of culture and of life, depicting two women, the style being characterized as one that is serious involving human emotion.  This image captures the possible thoughts, feelings, and positions a certain group of people, specifically Mexican looking women, are experiencing in relation to a certain event or situation in their lives.

            From the brief caption beneath the photograph, the audience is given more of a focus and direction to the purpose of the picture.  The caption reads: “Many women are left at home in Mexico as their men go north across the border to look for work…Sometimes families do not see each other for years at a time.”  Without the help of a caption, the viewer might have difficulty understanding why the women are saddened and one could assume various different causes to their pain.  Furthermore, if a caption was not used, the designer would assume the audience knows something about the Mexican culture and the issues and stigmas connected with certain people groups.  With the help of the attached caption, the audience can assume that this photograph was taken to give American’s a different view of the issue of immigration through the eyes of the women and children left behind.  Additionally, one can conclude that the capturers’ motive in taking this shot may have also been to change the vast array of issues associated with immigration, such as the ease of finding employment and the men’s responsibilities to the family they have left behind.

 The designer of this image was able to successfully portray two women’s emotions through the use of different lights and no color.  This element was a large contributor to what the viewer could take away from the picture that might not have been captured through the use of color.  An appeal to pathos the values of the audience is given by the photographer highlighting the emotions of the women, leaving the viewer to contemplate the issues at hand, while wrestling with the feelings of pity and wanting to help the situation.  Using the contrasting black and white format for the photograph, Mr. Rodriguez is able to appeal to ethos the character of what is being represented, the Mexican culture, whose people have a darker complexion.  Additionally, the use of black and white helps to capture the depth of the women’s feelings.  Lighting was the key dynamic that was able to be used to provide the audience with focal points to focus their attention on, specifically the features of the women illuminating their specific emotions. 

The two emotions observed in the women’s eyes are very unique and are both similar and different from each other.  Though they appear to be pondering the same thing, the first women has a lighter cast upon her face and shows a countenance that is worried but also appears to be hopeful about the situation.  Additionally, the woman, though her eyes are downcast, has a face that seems to be lifted by the prospective hope of the future.  Contrastingly, the younger of the two women, who appears in the foregrounds of the image, is seen in the light of the shadows which can show two things about her.  First, this young Mexican child seems to be very unsure of her tomorrows and wants to hold onto what is safe and what is familiar.  This is depicted through her expressionless face and her hands holding onto the wooden structure of her home.  Furthermore, the youth seems to have an expression that would seem to have questions attached, and as many individuals are wary of change, it would be likely those questions concerning the family’s current status without a father, the prospect of maybe never seeing him again, or the strange newness of the possibility of leaving her home someday, are currently on her mind.  

  Any individual who would look upon this photograph in an analytical perspective would begin to discover the real issue that is underlying the emotion seen through the eyes of the Mexican women.  The issue, that of immigration, not only involves men, it involves the families they have left behind.  This picture specifically pulls on the emotion of the audience showing families, specifically women and children, left by a husband and father who went searching for employment.  It also stirs the viewer to want to do something, to help assist Mexican families in their home town, or allow them to easily find employment and citizenship in the North, in both respects keeping the family together.  Additionally, the issue of immigration can be viewed in a totally different light coming from an image that was taken by an individual from the culture presented, who has chosen to document this issue from the view of the women and children left behind.    

Photograph taken from the following website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/features/cultural_essay.html

WORD COUNT: 991