Opinion | Girl, Western Ireland

In this article, I would like to spotlight the photograph ‘Girl, Western Ireland’ by Dorothea Lange. A gelatin print of the image is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; however, I am sure that there are other versions available in other collections.

This photograph has been one of, if not my favourite works of art recently. To me, a good work of art is one that you can stare at for ages, and still feel the same wonderful feeling that you got when you first saw it. This is certainly one of them.
If we are analysing this pictorally, looking purely at the image, it shows a young girl who appears to lean on a crumbling wall whilst clasping her hands together and smiling at the viewer. The wall acts like a dividing line separating her head from her body. The picture is in black and white and her face is mostly in shadow, with light coming in from the left. She is slightly off centre. There is also some negative space in the form of the sky.

The time period and location of this photograph are not those that the photographer Dorothea Lange is most commonly associated with. She is known for her images of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl in America, when she was working with the Farm Security Administration to document the poor and destitute. This is where she took her famous picture of a migrant mother and her three children, which, if you have not heard of, you have most definitely seen, as it has become synonymous with the Depression, and one might argue poverty in general.

But this image was taken in Ireland in 1954, when she was assigned (albeit after persuasion by Lange) by LIFE magazine to travel there and take photos. Specifically, she went to County Clare, and documented the rural lives of the people there. Whenever I see her photographs, I feel a sense of distance as if somewhat removed, even if the subject is close-up.

I first saw this picture in a video on the YouTube channel of the Museum of Modern Art, related to an exhibition they were doing of Lange’s work. It had been cropped so that it just showed the young girl’s face, and for some reason I was instantly drawn to it. Her smile is so childlike and carefree, and everything about her exudes innocence. Looking at the hands, they look so old despite her being so young. She seems to be only about 10 or 11, yet clearly she has been labouring for most of her life.

I am also struck by how modern she appears. Whilst 1954 is relatively recent, and in fact this girl might still be alive today, her smiling face just does not seem adequate for her plaid dress and billowing white petticoat, which looks old-fashioned even for then.

According to multiple sources, the subject of this photograph is named Bridie O’Halloran, however, sadly after that information becomes murky to non-existent. Obviously there is a sense of patriotism around this picture, and all of the images that Lange took in Ireland. Some say that the smile of this wee lass represents the ‘Irish Spirit’, and it may well do. When I look at this image I think of finding joy and being happy in tough times, which we might all need a bit of today.

I have so many questions about this picture. What is she smiling about? What did she do after this picture was taken? Does she have any friends? What are her ambitions?
All questions the viewer – myself included – is desperate to have answered!
However, there will probably never be an answer to any of them, and in a way that elusiveness is what makes this image so great. As long as we stare at her, she will always stare back.

– Sebastian