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<\/a>Installation view of, Gordon Parks: Portraits<\/em>, \u00a9 Toni Hafkenscheid<\/p>\nBAND\u2019s new space in a converted Victorian apartment houses forty-two of Parks\u2019 portraits spanning over the three decades (1940- 1970) of his long and revolutionary career. Utilizing the apartment\u2019s preexisting room divisions, the photographs on display are organized thematically in various rooms to feature Parks\u2019 thematic and stylistic range as a photographer.<\/p>\n
It is both quite appropriate and ironic that Parks\u2019 work is showcased for its exploration of identity since he was an artistic chameleon. Scholars proclaim that labeling Parks as a photographer is limiting; as he was also a poet, composer, author, filmmaker, and painter. Even as a photographer he explored various genres ranging from fashion to social documentary photography. However, rather than grappling with Parks\u2019 dynamic creative persona, the portraits in this exhibition demonstrate the ways in which Parks\u2019 many artistic identities influenced his photographic style and interests.<\/p>\n As an African American man living during one of the darkest periods of American history, Parks employed photography in order to highlight the reality of racism to all Americans. Parks\u2019 social documentary work for LIFE magazine can be likened to the photographs produced by American sociologist and photographer Lewis Hine, who also employed his camera as a \u201cweapon\u201d to promote social reform for child labour legislation. Parks’ photographs expose injustice and impoverishment. Observers of his works are left to wonder how he captured these images during a period when he himself was a victim of such racism. Yet, his photographs of ugly racist discourse also reflect a particular delicate and intimate beauty, which stimulates awe and compassion without trivializing the subject matter.<\/p>\n Parks also photographed celebrities. Interestingly, he managed to capture the \u2018known\u2019 fortunate figures with the\u00a0same respect and intimacy echoed in his LIFE photography. This is evident particularly in his portrait of Ingrid Bergman, taken in 1950, during a period of tremendous turmoil in the actress’ life following the discovery of her affair with director Roberto Rossellini. Here Parks\u2019 brilliant capacity for symbolism as a poet shines through as he captures Bergman in a moment of vulnerability, as the clocked figures in the background gaze menacingly in her direction, as though the source of psychological torment.<\/p>\n His multifaceted artistic talents are again evident in his photograph of Ethel Shariff, the leader of the women\u2019s corps of the Black Muslims and daughter of Elijah Muhammad.\u00a0 The photograph is aesthetically astounding, due to its geometric repetition and triangular composition. Aside from its aesthetic merits, the configuration also articulated the rigid systematic order and unity inherent to the Muslim brotherhood as well as Shariff\u2019s role at the apex of the \u2018pyramid\u2019 of such a system.<\/p>\n While the exhibit utilizes limited wall text, it is a rather fitting choice, as it enables the visitor to engage with the photographs in a more organic manner. Wall text is limited to a brief introduction at the exhibition\u2019s beginning and the wall labels that accompany each photograph.\u00a0 This permits the viewer to construct his or her own narrative of Parks\u2019 work. The gallery trusts the visitors to think through the photographs\u2019 themes independently, creating an engaging, cognitive experience. This is an approach with Parks himself employed as a photographer. In the documentary Half Past Autumn<\/em>, which plays in the final exhibition room, Parks explains how he uses photography as a medium, keeping with the advice of his mentor and leader of the famous Farm Security Association (of which Park was its first black member) Roy Stryker. According to Parks, Stryker taught him that photography, as a medium for social change, could be misused if utilized to simply take a photograph of a bigot and label it as such. Instead a photograph\u2019s power as a social weapon was attributed to its ability to reveal the root of bigotry and discrimination itself.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gordon Parks, Emerging Man, Harlem, New York<\/em>, 1952, Copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gordon Parks, Husband and Wife on Sunday Morning, Fort Scott, Kansas<\/em>, 1949, Copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gordon Parks, Malcolm X at Rally, Chicago, Illinois<\/em>, 1963, Copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy The Gordon Parks Foundation.<\/p>\n