January 30

THE HIGH: GORDON PARKS: SEGREGATION STORY

Posted by Layla on January 30, 2015 in ART | Leave a comment

The High Museum of Art will present rarely seen photographs by trailblazing African American artist and filmmaker Gordon Parks in this exhibition, presented in collaboration with The Gordon Parks Foundation. The exhibition features more than 40 of Parks’ color prints – most on view for the first time in over half a century – created for a powerful and influential 1950s Life magazine article documenting the lives of an extended African-American family in segregated Alabama. The series represents one of Parks’ earliest social documentary studies on color film. Coinciding with Gordon Parks: Segregation Story, the High will acquire 12 of the color prints featured in the exhibition, supplementing the two Parks works – both gelatin silver prints – already owned by the High. These works will augment the Museum’s extensive collection of Civil Rights era photography, one of the most significant in the nation.

Following the publication of the Life article, many of the photos Parks shot for the essay were stored away and forgotten for more than 50 years, presumed lost until they were rediscovered in 2012 (six years after Parks’ death). Though a small selection of these images has been previously exhibited, the High’s presentation brings to light a significant number that have never before been displayed publicly. The images provide a unique perspective on one of America’s most controversial periods. Rather than capturing momentous scenes of the struggle for civil rights, Parks portrayed a family going about daily life in unjust circumstances. Parks believed empathy to be vital to the undoing of racial prejudice. His corresponding approach to the Life project eschewed the journalistic norms of the day and represented an important chapter in Parks’ career-long endeavor to use the camera as a “weapon of choice” for social change. The images he created offered a deeper look at life in the Jim Crow South, transcending stereotypes to reveal a common humanity.

POSSE PHOTOS:

Layla trying out the new interactive exhibition that will move out to The Plaza shortly

Layla trying to grab the camera

Layla, Lia and Grace trying out another piece from the same exhibition

Lia and Layla interacting with a piece from the Jose Parla Segmented Realities Exhibition

Overview of the Life Magazine Story

Explanation of why Parks chose Alabama to create the story for Life Magazine

The group with Bryan at the start of the Gordon Parks Exhibition

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Thornton by Gordon Parks

Text about above portrait

Gordon Parks
American, 1912–2006
Department Store, Mobile, Alabama, 1956
Promised gift of The Gordon Parks Foundation

Bryan with the group discussing Gordon Parks’ Department Store, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Jenny our new docent discussing the portrait with the group

Jenny and Bryan

Gordon Parks images from the exhibition

Gordon Parks images from the exhibition

Gordon Parks images from the exhibition

Gordon Parks image from the exhibition

Image from Gordon Parks exhibition

Images from the Gordon Parks Exhibition

Image from the Gordon Parks Exhibition

Layla commenting on the 24 page Life Magazine Story shown in the case

Grace, Leslie and Grace discussing the Gordon Parks photos

Lia, Layla and Bryan with the Barber Shop photo

Lia, Layla and Bryan looking closely at one of the Gordon Parks photos

Bryan with the group

Isabel, Lia, Layla and Bryan

Grace, Isabel, Lia, Layla and Bryan discussing “Untitled, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956

Cathy, Isabel, Lia, Layla and Bryan discussing a piece showing Colored and White water fountains steps away from each other

Gordon Parks American, 1912–2006 Willie Causey, Jr., with Gun During Violence in Alabama, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956 Collection of The Gordon Parks Foundation