
The world has spent the majority of its time teaching us that life is not fair. We as humans look at it very differently, though, when our children are affected by this inequality. In the photograph, we see a little girl who has been affected by this unfairness in society. She is an innocent child, and has been dragged into the real world and its harsh truths. This photo, by Amanda Lucier and published in 2009, depicts a young girl by the name of Lurlena who had just lost the contest for Carnival Princess at her school. The only method for winning this contest was through spending the most amount of money on tickets. This is such a saddening thing to happen to a young child, and we feel the heartache in this photograph because of the details captured by Lucier. More specifically, she uses shadows, black and white colors, and tilted angles to represent the feeling of defeat, and thus making the viewer sympathize with Lurlena.

Through the use of shadows, the photographer directs our attention to Lurlena's expressive face. If we look closely, we notice that there is a shadow protruding on the left side, covering her left eye. The other eye is exposed to the light; the one that has a single tear sparkling under her eyelid. We get the sense that she is not being overdramatic and causing a scene, but instead only showing a single tear as a subtle way to be noticed. She wants people to know that she is hurting, but also know that she realizes that the world is unfair even if she does not know why. This use of shadow leads the audience to feel sympathy for Lurlena, especially since we notice the tear on her face and know that she was crushed by the reality of unfairness. This is a common occurrence that parents witness happening to their own children, leading the audience to even feel a sense of empathy. The shadows really emphasize Lurlena’s feelings as a whole and how society expects so much out of little girls like her.

The black and white colors in this photograph give the audience a feeling of lifelessness. The colors make the world that Lurlena now lives in dark and gloomy. This saddens the audience as they see a world surrounding Lurlena that is lacking the colorfulness that a child should have. Kids are innocent and look at the world with hope and confidence, but once this is taken away from them, all they see is black and white. If we look at Lurlena’s white shirt, we can tell that it represents a symbol of innocence against the black background. Lurlena’s shirt clashes with the darkness and helps the viewer to visualize her innocent soul against a hopeless society. In this photo, you can tell that Lurlena is starting to realize that sometimes there is nothing you can do to change things, which shows that the world is just black and white with no gray area.

If we take a look at the way Lurlena is sitting, we notice that she is tilted to the left. She is not sitting up straight which conveys a message of defeat. When someone feels beat down, they usually do not feel the need to present themselves in an acceptable manner. They do not feel like there is a point to it, which is clearly conveyed in Lurlena’s body language. The fact that it is off-center makes us realize that Lurlena is too tired and too upset to sit up straight. She instead slouches down to show that she no longer has the energy to worry about anything. She has no desire to think about the things happening around her since so much of her hope was stripped away from her. The weight of everything, including the unfairness of the contest and her loss, is taking her down and making her slouch. 

Amanda Lucier’s use of shadows, black and white colors and tilted angles represents how Lurlena feels defeated and evokes sympathy in the audience. This photograph clearly depicts the hardships that Lurlena is having to go through after losing the Carnival Princess contest. The only way to win was through an unfair method of spending the most on tickets. We can tell how Lurlena is feeling with the shadow that is cast over her left eye, the black and white coloring of the photo, and the way that Lurlena is tilted to the left, showing that she is too tired and beat down to sit up straight. This photograph really shows how the world can be disgustingly discriminatory based on race, gender, and even income, like in Lurlena’s case. It portrays the effect these kinds of things can have on an innocent human, and how these things need to be changed. 
