"Hardbelly's Hogan"
"The Westwater Family"The Americans
I have chosen two photographs of two different American Families who live in completely contrasting worlds. In the Photograph “The Westwater Family” we are brought into the world of the Westwater family. The picture shows us that the Westwater’s have money; they wear expensive suits, dresses, and jewelry. They are standing in a circle engaged in conversation about the focal point in the picture, which is a small bust that looks quite old.
In the Photograph “Hardbelly’s Hogan” we are brought into the world of a family of Native Americans. This world is the contrast to that of the Westwaters. The Natives are photographed in a dirt floor hut made of a random assortment of timbers they wear a mixture of traditional clothing and western clothing. All but one Native American is seated and they like the Westwater’s are all intent on the focal point of the photo an elderly native lying on the floor who appears to be sick. The only Non-Native American in the hut is a white woman who is giving medicine to the old man in the center.
There are many similarities in these to portraits of American families. Both groups are staring at a central object or person, and both images involve families. The framing in these two images are almost exactly the same in the Westwater photo the group has three people on the right side of the image and two on the left. The two people on the left and three on the right are split by a man who stands behind a chair separating him from the main group. The focal point is in the center also splitting the two groups of figures. The man farthest to the left is partly out of frame and focus. In “Hardbelly’s Hogan we are shown the exact same set up. Three figures on the right, two on the right split by both the sick man and the white woman. The man furthest to the right is once again out of frame and recedes into the shadows.
These similarities only serve to make the differences in the two images even more noticeable. The settings of the two images are opposites The Westwaters are in a lavish home with expensive furniture and art; the Natives are in hut with no furniture and only a burlap sack hanging on the wall. The Natives wear what looks to be well-worn clothing while the Westwaters have elegant clothes and jewels on. Even the moods depicted in these two images are very different the Native family is gathered around a gravely ill member of their family, they all have downcast eyes and somber expressions. The Westwaters are cheerful laughing and conversing with each other.
The Westwaters are all standing showing that they are in control while all but one Native is seated showing that they are at the mercy of this white doctor and that they rely on her charity to save them. The angle of the shot also lends itself to this end. Hardbelly’s Hogan is shot from above the Natives angled down so that the viewer is seeing them above and perceives him or herself to be superior to the Natives depicted in this image. The shot of the Westwater family is taken from straight on so that the viewer is looking straight in at the seen and feels that the Westwaters are his or her equals.
Even the names of the Photographs give off a similar feeling. “The Westwater Family” we are given the name of the family we are viewing and through this connect more with them. “Hardbelly’s Hogan” this title does not give us the name of the family that we see in the photo, we do not know what this title means perhaps it is the place where the photo is taken, perhaps it does not mean anything but is a fictitious name given to it by the artist. Even if the name is a fictitious it is obvious that we do not know the name of the family that we are viewing or even if they are a family.
In the two Photographs “Hardbelly’s Hogan” and “The Westwater Family” we are shown two contrasting views of the American family. In the first we are shown a poor sick family of Native Americans. They do not have money, the capability to help themselves without the interference of white medicines and charity, or anything to be happy about. In the second image we see The Westwaters, who, on the other hand have wealth, status, everything to be happy about, and health. These two different pictures give us a tailored view of the different worlds of the Westwaters and the Un-named Native American Family contrasting the natives with the Westwaters gives us a bias to the happy, wealthy, and educated Westwaters while giving us a felling of superiority to the Indians crouched below the camera in there small shanty.
