FSA

The FSA; meaning Farm Security Administration, was organisation created during the Great Depression in the United Sates by the government. It was used to take action against the poverty in rural parts of America that had been hit hard by the economic disaster and where it has been mostly effected.The administration aimed to improve the way farmers who were affected were living and allowed the FSA to purchase parts of their land. It also gave an option to rehabilitate them into group farms if necessary so that it could be more financially manageable to live. They also provided loans to the farmers to that they could afford to keep working on their own farm and have enough money to be able to live and support their families. The FSA created a photography programme that illuminated the rural areas and has proved to be highly influential and produced iconic pieces of work. Only eleven photographers were apart of this programme, who worked on portrayed how the Great Depression had ruined the lives of the people they captured. From the beginning of the FSA, its photography has been included in hundreds of books and magazines. In the 1930's in would go along side stories that would explain the problems that they were trying to put across through these images and aim to make people realise the effect the Great depression had. Each of the eleven photographers had a different focus for what they were going to capture and the people they were going to present, it showed the people who lived in the city what it was like to not have a lot of money living in these desperate conditions, for example Dorothea Lange's work who has since became very iconic in the photography world. Her most successful image "Migrant Mother" taken in 1936, was one of the most used out of the thousands of images the FSA produced. The expression the women holds in the image, straight away shows the conditions and emotions that came with this event, presenting how bad life was for these individuals. The FSA was very relevant at this time as it brought attention to people like "Migrant Mother" which were then exposed to the public. It has been a hugely important association in history for the uses of documentary photography and influence of photographers over time, showing the importance of documenting and capturing life. 

"Migrant Mother"

http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/dorothea-lange-migrant-mother-nipomo-california-1936