Guest
“I’m an objective reporter with a subjective heart,” proclaimed Gordon Parks. “I can’t help but have a certain kind of empathy…. It’s more or less expressing things for people who can’t speak for that way I speak for myself.” For over half a century, from the 1940s to the 2000s, Gordon Parks captured American life with his powerful photographs. After getting his first camera at the age of 25, he used this “weapon of choice” to attack issues including racism, poverty, urban life, and injustice. He became the first African American staff photographer at Life magazine—an immensely influential platform in the golden age of photo-illustrated magazines that not only allowed his art to be seen by many but also brought a critical, nuanced and, importantly, a Black perspective to the stories and depictions that he shared. Take a close look at the powerful work of this photographer, filmmaker, memoirist, novelist, choreographer, composer, and poet Gordon Parks, as part of our Virtual Views series. Reexamine what criminality looks like through “The Atmosphere of Crime,” and join MoMA curator Sarah Meister and distinguished scholars Nicole Fleetwood and Khalil G. Muhammad for a live Q&A on Thursday, July 16, at 8:00 p.m. EDT, as they discuss Parks’s powerful work and talk about photography, activism, and more. Learn more at Virtual Views: Gordon Parks: Subscribe for our latest videos, and invitations to live events: Explore our collection online: Commit to art and ideas. Support MoMA by becoming a member today: The comments and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speaker alone, and do not represent the views of The Museum of Modern Art, its personnel, or any artist. #GordonParks #photography #TheAtmosphereOfCrime #art #museumofmodernart #moma #museum #modernart
