Gordon Parks: I Am You

Park’s Street Style at Jack Shainman Gallery

American Feet on Paris Street, Paris, France, 1952. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

BY: Jes Zurell

“What I want. What I am. What you force me to be is what you are. For I am you staring back from a mirror of poverty and despair, of revolt and freedom. Look at me and know that to destroy me is to destroy yourself.” Gordon Parks penned these lines in the late ‘60s, amid the tumultuous social zeitgeist. A cocktail of unpredictability and systemic oppression intoxicated American culture, fueling rebellions and shattering the picture-perfect Norman Rockwell mirage of normalcy.

The thing is, nuclear family dinners with 2.5 kids and a dog have always been bullshit, and wherever there was bullshit to be called out, artists have been there with their megaphones of choice. Parks was among them. “Whether through photographs, words or music, Gordon gave a voice to the sometimes voiceless and demonstrated the transformative power of self-expression,” writes Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., Executive Director of the Gordon Parks Foundation. “His photographs transcend art, history, race and culture and have endured to stand the test of time.”

At the Jack Shainman Gallery on West 24th Street in New York, Gordon Parks: I Am You | Part 1 opens to the public. The show contains a number of fashion photographs taken during the ‘50s and ‘60s, all of which are filled with the grandiose romance of the mid-century feminine ideal: nonexistent waists, flawless curls, and the kind of cross-legged chastity meant to drive women insane. Other included works capture the spirit of the times from extreme angles. In one shot, Ingrid Bergman looks back over her shoulder at a cluster of black-clad Italian widows who, even out of focus, appear to be giving the actress disapproving looks. (Our guess is her skirt was scandalously short – roughly one inch above the knee). A couple of shots deal only with shoes, with and without their owners’ feet.

The styling of cuffed jeans and patterned socks, the signs of wear, and rawness of these images conveys a grounded feeling, as though we are meant to literally put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. The fashion shots, when chased with tense views of ‘60s urbania, reveal Parks’ perspective: All the satin in the world can’t cover up a forced smile; the facades with which we insulate ourselves are evidence of fear – of the knowledge that we are all bitterly and beautifully equal.

Gordon Parks Ferry Commuters Men in Hats
Ferry Commuters, Staten Island, New York, 1946. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks New York Woman Blue Dress
Untitled, New York, New York, 1956. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Evening Wraps
Evening Wraps, New York, New York, 1956. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Ingrid Bergman Stromboli
Ingrid Bergman at Stromboli, Stromboli, Italy, 1949. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Shoes Lined Up on Street
Untitled, Harlem, New York, 1952. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Cocoon Cape New York
Cocoon Cape, New York, New York, 1956. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Untitled circa 1962
Untitled, circa 1962. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks American Boys Feet on Street
American Boys’ Feet on Street, Paris, France, 1952. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Giraffe
Untitled, San Diego, California, 1959. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks Bettina and Frances McLaughlin Gill
Bettina and Frances McLaughlin-Gill, 1950. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

 

Gordon Parks American Feet on Paris Street
American Feet on Paris Street, Paris, France, 1952. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

Gordon Parks: I Am You | Part 1 runs January 11 through February 10, 2018, at 524 West 24th Street. The second installment of this show will open on a future date – and don’t worry, all the sultry details will be here for you on PROVOKR.

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