Church on the Great Plains, South Dakota 1938

Editor: This is Dorothea Lange's "Church on the Great Plains, South Dakota," taken in 1938. The church is so small against that enormous, almost overwhelming landscape. It feels…isolated. What can you tell me about this piece? Curator: That isolation, that feeling, is exactly what strikes me. The church, a symbol laden with meaning, a meeting place, a shelter, a beacon—here, it’s rendered almost insignificant against the vastness. Does that make you think of any larger social concepts? Editor: Maybe a loss of faith, or the struggle of community in rural settings? Curator: Precisely. Lange’s work during the Depression often uses religious iconography in dialogue with economic and environmental hardship. Look at the placement: the horizon line dissects the frame, creating a tension between the earthly and the divine, a cultural memory deeply ingrained within. What feeling does the cross atop the church evoke? Editor: Hope, maybe? But it's such a tiny symbol compared to the landscape; it's almost…fragile. Curator: Yes, a fragile hope, almost overwhelmed, yet stubbornly present. It speaks to the resilience embedded in the human spirit and the landscape. Consider this alongside other images from the Farm Security Administration. Do you see a pattern emerging? Editor: Yes, a recurring motif of hope amid despair. Thanks, seeing it through the lens of symbolic meaning makes it more powerful. Curator: My pleasure. And hopefully, you’ll see such visual strategies appearing over and over in all kinds of art.