Member of the congregation of Wheeley's church who is called "Queen." She is wearing the old fashioned type of sunbonnet. Her dress and apron were made at home. Near Gordonton, North Carolina after 1939

Dorothea Lange made this photograph of a woman known as "Queen" in North Carolina. The grayscale image is a study in textures, from the smooth clapboard behind her to the patterns of her dress and bonnet. You can almost feel the stiff cotton of the fabric. What I love about this piece is how Lange coaxes a kind of fierce beauty out of the everyday. Look at the way the light falls across Queen's face, highlighting the lines etched by time and experience. Each wrinkle tells a story, a testament to a life lived fully. The details are incredible; the way the bonnet frames her face, casting a soft shadow that accentuates her features. It's like Lange is saying, "Here is a woman, not a queen in the royal sense, but a queen nonetheless, in her own right." Lange’s approach reminds me of Walker Evans, in the way that a document can also be a sensitive and moving portrait. Ultimately, the image leaves you with more questions than answers about the nature of dignity and resilience.