Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning 1x56, 1x110

Her celebrated photograph The Migrant Mother is one of the most recognized and arresting images in the world, a haunting portrait that came to represent the suffering of America’s Great Depression. Yet few know the story, struggles and profound body of work of the woman who created the portrait: Dorothea Lange. Directed and narrated by Lange’s granddaughter Dyanna Taylor, an award-winning filmmaker, Grab a Hunk of Lightning explores the life, passions, and uncompromising vision of the woman behind the camera, whose enduring images document five turbulent decades of American history. Taylor, who learned to see the visual world through her grandmother’s eyes, combines intimate family memories and journals with extensive scholarship and never-before-seen footage to bring Lange’s life and work, triumphs and pain, into sharp focus. The result is a revealing portrayal of the artist whose empathy for people on the margins of society challenged America to know itself.

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