Gordon Parks

The five photographs on display here by Afro-American photographer Gordon Parks depict scenes of everyday life in the southern states of the US, where Parks travelled in 1956. He was commissioned by Life magazine to create a photo reportage on the conditions of racial segregation there. The Civil Rights Movement was beginning to take shape, sparked by the Montgomery Bus Boycott in December 1955, with protest marches advocating against the policies of racial segregation and for equal rights for the African-American population. The US public needed greater awareness of the living conditions in the South. Parks’ photographs capture mundane moments as if in passing, without embellishment. His works are distinctive due to the coexistence of multiple details, which invite viewers to let their eyes wander across various elements in the photograph. No single key element dominates our attention. Parks’ goal was to make the US public aware of the pervasive racism in the Southern States, generate solidarity and compassion, and ultimately provoke change. His pictures evoke the painful lived experiences which Parks himself had to endure. At the same time, they offer support for the demand for equal rights. Parks believed in our capacity to reflect on what we see, challenging our patterns of perception and judgement. With this, his photographs have lost none of their relevance to this day.