While visiting family in New
York City this past weekend, my son took me for a walk through a small section
of the Chelsea District, an area flourishing with art galleries. We had a good time peeking into several
galleries; with our somewhat limited time frame our primary goal was just to
get some sense of the art scene in one of the world’s major art
destinations. The art we saw in Chelsea
was interesting enough, yet it was during my solo stroll up 125th
Street in Harlem the next day that I encountered art that conjured a
range of emotions and left me longing for a fuller picture.
When I walked into The Studio
Museum in Harlem on 125th Street, I was excited about seeing a
photography exhibition featuring a series of Gordon Parks’ photos from 1967,
many of which appeared in LIFE magazine
as a photo essay that year. I hadn’t seen any of Parks’ work in years, so
I was eager to revisit his portrayals from over forty years ago. The exhibition depicted various scenes in the
life of an impoverished Black family, the Fontenelles, who lived in
Harlem. The photos were somber, sullen,
even sickening in their depiction of abject urban poverty. I was also startled by the sheer absence of
smiles or celebrations in this series of Fontenelle family photos, a family who
appeared incapable of mustering up the strength to demonstrate anything other
than their victimization. And so in my mind
the photo series was skewed.
Parks’ camera lens zoomed
in on the squalor in which the Fontenelle family lived. The gaping holes and exposed pipes in the
walls made me angry about the penetrating racism that Black people have always
endured in this country. But the
family’s own squalor – clothes piled and trash strewn throughout the apartment
– also made me angry. I could only
imagine that those pictures in 1967 conveyed the message that all poor Black
people are consequently incapable of maintaining cleanliness and the
accompanying sense of self-worth. I’m
sure Parks’ portrayal of such living conditions was part of a larger purpose at
the time his photo essay appeared in LIFE
magazine – perhaps he intentionally
focused on the utterly debilitating effects of poverty.
I’m not at all saying that
Parks should have portrayed a contented or happy poverty-stricken family. I’m saying that oppressed people are always more than their state of
oppression. Parks presents a family photo album that depicts only the family's dire impoverishment. While I
most certainly honor and appreciate Mr. Parks for his telling photos of the
Fontenelles, I just wish his photos had told me more.
Visit The Studio Museum in
Harlem online at www.studiomuseum.org.
I haven't seen very many of Gordon Parks' photos but I do agree...photos can and do show slices of life. Segments, like an orange segment. Pieces, important pieces, but not the whole thing. There is always something 'missing' when viewing 'slices of life'. There isn't much of a way to portray the whole background but indeed it does show important pieces of life.
ReplyDeleteYes,so we see that it's important to question, rather than completely accept, what we see and hear in the news and even in art!
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