Gordon Parks' Segregation Story Series Showcased in Atlanta Exhibition

Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia, presents 'Gordon Parks: The South in Colour,' featuring over 30 photographs from Parks' Segregation Story series, including previously unshown works and a new portfolio published by The Gordon Parks Foundation. The exhibition commemorates the 70th anniversary of Parks' landmark images in Life magazine and the 20th anniversary of the foundation's founding, running until 13 June. Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, the show highlights Parks' use of a handheld Rolleiflex camera and color film to document the daily lives of Black families like the Thorntons, Causeys, and Tanners in Alabama during the 1950s, capturing scenes under Jim Crow laws. Parks, born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas, faced segregation early, attending a segregated elementary school and experiencing racial violence as a child. His career spanned photography, filmmaking, writing, and music, with key roles at the Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information, and as a staff photographer for Life magazine from 1948. He also directed films such as 'The Learning Tree' in 1969 and 'Shaft' in 1971, contributing to the Blaxploitation genre, and continued working until his death in 2006.