Palazzo della Penna in Perugia dedicates an exhibition to Dorothea Lange and her documentary photography

From Dec. 14, 2024 to March 23, 2025, Palazzo della Penna - Center for Contemporary Arts in Perugia will host the Dorothea Lange exhibition, dedicated to one of the most significant figures in 20th century documentary photography. The event, organized by the Municipality of Perugia in collaboration with CAMERA - Centro Italiano per la Fotografia di Torino and Le Macchine Celibi soc. coop., represents a first step in the process of transforming Palazzo della Penna from a civic museum to a “Center for Contemporary Arts,” in line with the cultural policy of the new Giunta. Strongly desired by Mayor Vittoria Ferdinandi and Culture Councillor Marco Pierini, the exhibition is part of a revitalization strategy that aims to qualify Palazzo della Penna as a space dedicated to contemporary arts, capable of stimulating a dialogue between different disciplines, from photography to music, from literature to theater, and new technologies.

Curated by Walter Guadagnini and Monica Poggi, the exhibition on Dorothea Lange presents more than 130 shots that chronicle a crucial decade in the photographer’s career, from the 1930s to the 1940s.

In the 1930s, Lange abandoned portrait photography to document the economic crisis that resulted from the Wall Street crash. She set out in 1935 on a long journey with economist Paul S. Taylor, whom she would marry a few years later, to chronicle the dramatic living conditions of agricultural workers in the central areas of the country, which had been hit by a severe drought from about 1931 to 1939. Commissioned by the government’s Farm Security Administration documentation program, she chronicled the tragedy of poverty and the conditions of farm workers and migrant families affected by the drought and Dust Bowl sandstorms.

Among his most famous images are those devoted to cotton plantations in the Southern states and pea plantations in California, where dramatic working conditions were intertwined with exploitative racial segregation. He collected stories and tales that are recorded in the detailed captions that accompany the images. It was in this context that he made Migrant Mother, a portrait of a desperate young mother living with her seven children in an encampment of tents and disused cars.

The second major cycle of images in the exhibition is devoted to the American population of Japanese descent in World War II, which for the United States began in 1941 with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor: after the declaration of war, in fact, the U.S. government decided to intern the native Japanese community in the United States in prison camps, hiring various photographers to document what happened. Lange documented at the behest of the government, despite the fact that she and her husband had publicly given their dissent, the forced internment of American citizens of Japanese descent. Her shots document the absurdity of a racially discriminatory law and how it disrupted the lives of thousands.

Climate crisis, forced migration, racial discrimination-the issues Dorothea Lange addressed in the 1930s and 1940s are absolutely topical. In addition to celebrating one of the milestones in the history of twentieth-century photography, the exhibition invites the public to reflect on the present.

“It is with great emotion that we open today what represents the first exhibition promoted by our administration,” said Mayor Vittoria Ferdinandi. “I thank Alderman Pierini for giving us the extraordinary work of Dorothea Lange, an icon of photography who was able to capture and tell the reality of a difficult era through the lens of her camera. The images on display are not simply snapshots of everyday life, but true human narratives that speak of hope, dignity and resilience. Lange’s work transcends mere reportage; he manages to capture the humanity of his subjects, to convey emotions that go beyond words. His photographs become a powerful vehicle of communication, able to make us reflect on the challenges and hopes of those living in vulnerable situations. The nobility that shines through the faces of adults and the depth of the children’s gazes speak to us of an authentic humanity, a desire for redemption that is universal and timeless. At a time when we face global and local challenges, today’s exhibition reminds us of the importance of listening to the stories of others, understanding the experiences of those around us and never forgetting the value of solidarity and inclusion.”

“Palazzo della Penna strongly reaffirms its vocation as a center of contemporary art by opening its doors to the production of an absolutely prominent figure in the history of photography worldwide,” said deputy mayor with responsibility for culture Marco Pierini. “She who is considered the mother of American social photography, with a unique and emotional style, takes us into the heart of the socio-economic implications of the Great Depression, in contact with human dramas and miseries always treated with empathy and sincerity through images that have become symbols of an era. The series made in the mid-1930s on the emigration of California agricultural workers, in particular, represents an extraordinary body of work capable of effectively documenting facts and conditions while at the same time fixing motions of the soul that still speak to our consciousness today. We believe that this initiative can contribute to better position the Umbrian capital in the Italian panorama of major exhibitions.”

“We are honored to contribute to the restart of a space with enormous potential like Palazzo della Penna through collaboration with the Perugia administration,” commented Camera’s secretary general, Carlo Spinelli. “Our Foundation was born ten years ago with a precise mission: the dissemination and promotion of photographic art, also in the particular sense of image education. An activity that we are happy to propose also in this territory. To this end, a program of meetings aimed at deepening the topical content that the exhibition brings will soon be publicized.”

"The challenge was to get out of the more classic track by also going beyond iconic images such as Migrant Mother," concluded curator Monica Poggi. “We focused on ten particularly intense years in which Lange worked for the U.S. government for the purpose of documenting the conditions of migrants of the great economic and environmental crisis. The message the author delivers, at any rate, is not only dramatic, but testifies to how photography can trigger concrete social changes. Something to remain aware of.”

Palazzo della Penna in Perugia dedicates an exhibition to Dorothea Lange and her documentary photography

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