Gordon Parks was born into a world filled with segregation. The school he attended limited what he was able to pursue. They limited what sports a colored person could play, limited the education they could have, limited where they were allowed to wander. From a young age of eleven he had already encountered bullies that wanted to harm him. He was able to survive because he was clever. He has seen a world where white and black were destroying each other, but he believed that not enough people knew of the shades of grey that could exist in between.
Parks traveled throughout the United States when he was cast out of the house by his brother-in-law. Taking any job he could get his hands on in order to survive. While he was traveling around the world he saw all the discrimination colored people face. He wanted to show what he felt really mattered, that we are all just humans. Eventually he came upon a pawn shop and bought a Voigtlander Brilliant camera. This is where his legend starts.
Untitled, Fort Scott, Kansas
20 x 16 inches (print) 17 1/2 x 12 inches (image) 28 3/4 x 22 3/4 x 1 Âľ inches (framed), archival pigment print, 1963
Gordon Parks wanted to show the battles faced by others in discrimination, but I feel that this piece is something more personal. It feels like a reference to a time when he was bullied and had to save himself. This piece has a hand reaching out of the water, a sign Parks is alive and reaching forward to become someone greater than the ones that hurt him.
In Gordon Parks’ first photo essay he wanted to display the impact of poverty and discrimination in New York. He says, “I can’t help but have a certain kind of empathy…. It’s more or less expressing things for people who can’t speak for themselves…the underdogs…in that way I speak for myself.” Parks wanted to be able to show what could not be said in his photographs.
Gordon Parks. Red Jackson, Harlem Gang Leader. 1948
Gelatin silver print, 11 7/16 × 9 5/8″ (29 × 24.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art,
New York.
In this piece it shows Red Jackson, a gang leader observing another gang across the street. The broken window displays how broken the work they live in is. It shows how hard they are trying to persevere and survive despite all the hardships. It shows how important it is to know his enemies, because his life depends on it. Jackson is engulfed in shadow, as if the only source to lead him is the sunlight.
Gordon Parks. Harlem Gang Wars. 1948
Gelatin silver print, 10 15/16 × 10 1/2″ (27.9 × 26.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
This piece spoke out to me due to the emotion. In the middle you see people gearing up for a fight, but on the very left you see a boy running away. His entire body is not even in the frame which creates a lot more tension and fear. It makes me feel like running away myself.
Sources:
- https://www.theartstory.org/artist/parks-gordon/life-and-legacy/
- Virtual Views: Gordon Parks | MoMA
- Gordon Parks x Muhammad Ali, The Image of a Champion, 1966/1970 – Exhibitions – The Gordon Parks Foundation
- GORDON PARKS: HALF AND THE WHOLE – Exhibitions – The Gordon Parks Foundation
- The Jewish Museum
