Gordon Parks Lecture 5/16/09: Block Cinema, Northwestern University

Emerging Man, Harlem, 1952

The photographic work of Gordon Parks is what drew me to this lecture. His photojournalistic essays explore both high and low cultures. I wanted to hear about his process of forming relationships with Flavio and his other subjects. However, the lecture, moderated by professor of African American Studies and History, Darlene Clark Hine, failed to meet my expectations. “Unlocked Doors:  The Art of Gordon Parks” began with Hine reading the epilogue from Parks’ autobiography in order to bring his “spirit into the room.” And that set the tone for the rest of the two hours. There was less commentary about Parks’ work and more about his life and how his work has affected others.

The first speaker was Philip Brookman, a writer, filmmaker, editor, and photographer who specializes in the documentary style. Brookman spoke specifically about Parks’ life. Parks was raised in Kansas, and though not a lot when on in the midwest, his mom always encouraged him to go after his dream. Once at Life magazine, where Parks was the first African American contributor, he told the story of the Great Migration through his photographs. His interactions with the lower class proved to be essential towards his career. Poverty provided experience, and Parks was able to photograph crucial images that Life readers wanted to see in the 1940s. His interactions with Red Jackson and other gang members resulted in famous photojournalistic essays. Brookman also focused on Boy with the Junebug. This was an autobiographical photo that Parks took of a boy lying in the grass. It captures both innocence and serenity. The real payoff was going to the gallery after the lecture and seeing the cibachrome print in person. The colors were much more muted and changed my perspective. There was a certain sadness represented in the print—a fog that the boy is trying to peer through, and he squints to see freedom away from his hometown in the distance.

Maren Stange, an associate professor at The Cooper Union, spoke next. She focused on Gordon Parks: the Renaissance Man. Parks started in Chicago as a Pullman Car dinner server and made his way to becoming a photographer, a poet, an artist, and a filmmaker. Stange reiterated an interesting dichotomy is Parks’s work. Not only did Parks photograph the lower class, but he also devoted a large part of his work to glamour shots. His precise use of lighting in Ingrid Bergman at Stromboli (1949) imprisons her in shadow, while making the highlighted nuns in the background look alien. He often uses flat space or shallow focus in order to point out exactly what you as the viewer should be looking at in his photograph.

The last speaker, Bob Black, a staff photographer for the Chicago Daily Defender and the Chicago Sun Times, was the most enthusiastic speaker, but the least relevant. Black spent his time telling stories about his own experience as a photographer, and briefly mentioned how Parks inspired him.

The brief discussion following the lecture, as well as the exhibit in the museum, gave the greatest insight into Gordon Parks. For instance, stories of how Parks changed Flavio’s life for “fifteen minutes,” and then how Flavio was unfortunately exploited through the experience, taught Parks about the cruelties of photojournalism. Even so, he continued to juxtapose high and low classes. Parks was known for always allowing viewers to come up with their own connotations from his work. This was very clear after viewing the exhibit. It is this everlasting connection that Parks not only had to his subjects, but to his audience as well, that made them feel as though they are sharing the same experience with Parks. The lecture is proof that Parks was able to even inspire both artists and academics in their forthcoming careers.