Dorothea Lange made her most iconic photographs during the Great Depression while working for the Farm Security Administration. Her portraits of rural Americans laid bare their suffering and the turbulence of the era while maintaining a sense of respect and dignity. Lange’s compositions that do not feature people are less common but no less powerful. Her picture of three nearby churches on the Great Plains in South Dakota is framed with a sense of optimism, suggesting the possibility of both self-determination and coexistence.