Dust Storm 1936

Editor: This gelatin-silver print is Arthur Rothstein's "Dust Storm" from 1936, currently held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It feels incredibly desolate, with a family trudging through what seems like an endless expanse of dust. What aspects of this photograph stand out to you? Curator: What strikes me is the raw depiction of labor and its effect on materiality. This isn’t just a portrait of a family; it’s an account of ecological disaster brought on by exploitative agricultural practices, represented through the very dust that engulfs them. Look at the dilapidated house. The cheap wood construction, failing under the pressure of the elements. It embodies failed production, consumption, and abandonment. Editor: So, the material realities tell the story? The photograph is then almost a document. Curator: Precisely! Rothstein’s choice of gelatin-silver print elevates a documentary photograph into something more permanent, something artful. Think about what it took to make this image— the production of the film, the chemicals, the printing process itself. It mirrors, in a way, the industrial processes that led to the Dust Bowl. Does seeing it that way change your view? Editor: It does. The medium becomes part of the message. The family’s struggle against a hostile environment makes a statement about our relationship with natural resources. Curator: Absolutely. By focusing on the materials and processes – from the photographic materials to the failing building materials– the photo critiques not just an environmental disaster, but the socio-economic machine that drives such devastation. The very act of creating this image becomes a form of social critique. Editor: I see it now. Thanks, I learned so much!