Gordon Parks at Pace

“Gordon Parks was a pioneering Black photographer who created a vital archive of images documenting Black American life — with a lens towards race, class, and urban communities — from the 1940s to the 2000s. A solo exhibition highlighting four decades of Parks’ output (work from the 40s-80s) is in its final week at Pace. The exhibition focuses on several series of works including a handful of square format color photographs from his Segregation Series — in one a father helps his daughter lean over for a sip of water at a fountain labeled “Colored Only.” Parks’ use of early color film here (the photographs were shot in 1956) brings an added visual commentary to the horrors of segregation. 

Elsewhere in his photographs are familiar faces — Martin Luther King Jr., Mohammed Ali — and whether photographing families in their living rooms, congregations worshiping in churches, or well-known cultural figures, Parks had a knack for capturing his subjects in precise moments that often feel somehow both transcendent and banal. Ali for instance is shot in profile, backlit and silhouetted, wearing a bathrobe in a doorway and looking down at his hands in contemplation. Parks’ images go far beyond merely documenting the realities of American life — they cut through to the psychological underpinnings of his subjects, allowing viewers to connect with their inner worlds.”

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Photo: Gordon Parks, 1201 South La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90019. July 12–August 30, 2024. Photography courtesy Pace Gallery.