Spanish PDF Translation/Traducción PDF en Inglés:
English Audio Translation:
I haven’t heard of Gordon Park before so I’m happy I get to experience his work now. The theme I get from his work and with MoMA’s writing “After getting his first camera at the age of 25, he used this “weapon of choice” to attack issues including racism, poverty, urban life, and injustice.” I get that he wanted to share the black experience in America.
The photo that I was interested in was of a little girl and her mother standing in front of a store window that has white-colored mannequins (https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/programs/exhibitions/gordon-parks-half-and-the-whole?view=slider). It is something we can now look at differently because of the steps we’ve made towards racial equality, but back during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, seeing yourself represented whether it be through media like television or magazines or something trivial as the color of the mannequins in stores.
Thinking further, this store could’ve easily been segregated and stores that were integrated could’ve signaled this by either having signs that explicitly say they welcome nonwhite people or by having brown-colored mannequins. The documentation of racism helps remind of us how far we’ve come and how much work is left to do.
