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Summer 1938. Uncaptioned. Somewhere in Ohio, possibly Marysville. 35mm negative by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
I look at the determined profile of this woman and try to imagine her in modern clothing, a dark suit.
The floral dress ages her. Old people dressed like old people back then. I wonder how old she was when this was taken.
I think of my own mother, in her 70s, wearing jeans. And how she doesn't seem 72 like my grandmother did.
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