One famous example one of the most famous examples is The work by Dorothea L. Lange, Migrant Mother which was shot during the depression era of America. The central image is framed by two children, who lean on her. Her arms take on the most cherished pose of the mother’s embrace of a newborn.
Lange’s photo reenacts the most iconic feminine symbol: Madonna and child. However, not all photos of mothers are alike. From the earliest snapshots to pictures on screens, the way women appear in photos is a reflection of our evolving view of their place in the home and society.
Read more: Psychology behind why your mom may be the mother of all heroes
The woman behind the child
Mothers are featured throughout the photographic history. The first illustration of a mother’s participation is in the form of an illustration by Theodore Mauisset. The subject of this drawing is the mother who laughs with her child who is reluctant to get his photograph taken.
Detail of La Daguerreotypomanie (Daguerreotypomania) by Theodore Maurisset, Paris, France 1839. J. Paul Getty Museum
When she next is seen in the Victorian time period, she’s known as the “Hidden Mother” smothered under thick velvet to keep her child in a position that allows them to be easily photographed. The furniture she is.
In Victorian, photos of infants from the Victorian era were used by mothers to help prop their subjects up. Wikimedia
In the most important photographic work about photography Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes continues the theme of hidden meaning.
One of the most important aspects of this intimate book is a photo of his mother when she was a young girl that Barthes refers to as”the Winter Garden photograph. Although the photograph is crucial to the story, Barthes does not show us the photo, instead stating the picture has significance for him.
The Winter Garden photograph takes Barthes back to the time before his mother became a mother. The photograph allows him to recognize her independence and transition into the motherhood role: “I studied the little girl and at last rediscovered my mother“.
He sees her not as a teenager, but instead as an unassuming child.
Roland Barthes and his mother in the year 1925.
Pure love
The notion of purity connects our minds to an ideal picture of moral goodness that is as portrayed by the Christian’s immaculate mother.
Our journey into the world begins from our mother. In utero, we are first pictured and then removed surgically or taken out into the world, and her arms are breast-fed, bottle-fed and skin-on-skin.
In our modern society, birth is a documented occasion. From the time of conception until the time of delivery, the identity of a mother is defined by conception. her status shifts from mother to woman.
Child and mother in photo captioned”Stel as well as Don as he turned three months old’. Genealogical Society of Victoria/Flickr
In the words of advertisers, this archetype relies on her image of every day tasks. The most common images show her at home working in the kitchen, displaying her culinary talents and baking skills.
The most notable attributes of her are beautiful skin, soft feminine appearance and healthy hair.
