The “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” series is currently being displayed at the University of Wisconsin –Eau Claire. Walker Evans collection came as a product of his work done during the Great Depression in hopes to document the effects of the Depression. Poor families were the main focus of this study in hopes to make the effects of the Depression known. Walker Evans along with other photographers, worked for the Farm Security Act (FSA) photographing areas in the south. Evans, over the course of a few months, was able to stay in the homes of three different families and document their lives. This, I found to be very unusual. He first had to explain what his intentions were, and then stay in their homes. Evans was able to capture great emotion and devastation and convey this through his photographs.
When looking at the photographs in the Foster Gallery, I couldn’t help but notice the distress and despair in the eyes of the people. They seemed to be living for the day and trying to figure out how to make it through day-to-day situations. People in the photographs didn’t have shoes and had clothes that were made from flour sacks or other recycled material. The pictures were to be interpreted through your eyes, compare to your own life; stop and think about what is really important. Some of the pictures also had scratches, though probably unintentional, they add to the harsh reality of how people were living.
These pictures of their simplistic lives were taken and shown to the public causing some controversy. An interesting comment made by Lee during his discussion really made me think. He made the comment that Walker Evans never went back to these homes, he never spoke to them again, and Evans didn’t want anything to do with them again. This is presumably because of the way in which he exploited the families and their way of life. When doing my own work, I wonder if I would be able to do a job, as Evans was doing for FSA, knowing the implications it may hold. The photographs taken by Evans were remarkable, but the content within may be hard to deal with throughout your life. As Baldwin Lee stated, “Pictures don’t change the world;” they can only bring matters to the light.