Adele Boke, Sacramento, California 1951

Dorothea Lange made this photograph of Adele Boke's braided hair in Sacramento, California. It looks like she moved in close, really close, and looked carefully. It's such a tender photograph of a young woman who has turned her face away from us. It reminds me of when I braid my own daughter's hair, how you divide it into three, and then patiently, slowly, weave it together. Each gesture repeated until this sculptural form emerges. What was Adele thinking while Dorothea composed the image? Did she feel seen, or exposed? This photograph is very beautiful, but somehow feels like something private made public. Maybe Dorothea Lange was interested in the formal qualities - the repetition, the tone, the circles. Or maybe it was a social document, an image of labour and care. All paintings, all photographs, are really just a conversation between the artist and the subject. A weaving together of thoughts, feelings, and ideas, like the braiding of hair.