Last summer, my friends and I took our children to Greensboro, Alabama to see two art exhibitions, “A Changing Nature: Photographs of the South, 1963-2014” from the Do Good Fund and Gordon Parks: The Segregation Portfolio. Greensboro is a small town of about 2,700 people. 60% of which are African American. It was a special opportunity to see important documentary photographs of the South in the neighborhoods that inspired them. We took our sketchbooks and made time to stretch out. As we talked about how we relate to the subjects, the children drew pictures of their favorites and of rocketships. I wish I had known about this children’s book by Carole Boston Weatherford at the time. She tells a story about Gordon Parks that captured my preschoolers attention. In just a few words, she illustrates the racism he thrived despite, how career opportunities build on top of each other, and how to find a “subject” in your artwork. Gordon Parks’ Segregation Portfolio was at the High Museum of Art before coming to the HERO gallery space and is currently showing at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago.

 

UPDATE: Photographs from Gordon Parks’ Segregation Portfolio is currently on display at the University of Georgia’s Russell Special Collections Library (which is open to the public).  They will also be on display in at the Columbus Museum of Art  beginning in October 2016. Thank you Alan, from Do Good Fund, for sharing this news. And pointing out that some of the photographs exhibited in Greensboro were taken in Choctaw County, only two counties away.