Explore Indonesia

Read About a Photograph by Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange took this photograph of children’s feet during her travels in Indonesia in 1958. She was documenting an aspect of life in Indonesia—the custom of going barefoot. She was also creating an abstract, even playful composition with the strong, simple elements of feet, lines in the ground and on one foot, and a leaf at the bottom of the photograph. The feet are seen from above against a dark background. The repeated shapes of the feet and toes create a pleasing pattern, set in different directions and extended out to the frame of the picture.

Varieties of legs and feet fascinated Lange. Some of her photographs include images of a woman’s legs wearing torn stockings, a businessman’s feet stepping off a streetcar, and an Egyptian youth’s legs straddling his burro. She photographed her own foot as well, which was affected by polio she suffered as a child. Lange’s self-consciousness about her foot may have given her a keen awareness of other people’s feet and a desire to photograph them.

Lange seemed to enjoy her time in Indonesia, where she visited royalty, watched performances of Javanese dance, swam in the cold mountain water of jungle pools, and collected local crafts. However, she never forgot that she was a privileged American outsider. When Lange traveled to Calcutta, India, she chose not to document the extreme poverty she found there. Perhaps the numerous images of feet that Lange created while in Indonesia reflect a desire to avoid depicting the harsher aspects of Indonesian life.

Questions

Write or discuss your responses.

• What can you say about the people in this photograph by looking at their feet?
• How did Lange “frame” her picture of the children?
• What patterns or repeating patterns do you see in this picture?
• Why do you think Lange included only her subjects’ feet in this picture?
• Why do you think Lange photographed feet?
• Would you rather photograph people’s hands, feet, or faces? Why?
• Is there a favorite subject you like to show in photographs?
• What are good subjects to photograph when you take a trip? Monuments? The people who live there? Yourself?

A traditional form of dance from the island of Java in Indonesia. Javanese dance uses slow, smooth, and controlled movements, along with careful hand and arm gestures. It is often performed with traditional music and clothing, and it reflects the cultural stories and traditions of the Javanese people.

A disease caused by a virus that can affect the nervous system. Before vaccines existed, polio sometimes led to muscle weakness or made it hard for a person to move certain parts of their body.