APPRECIATION: GORDON PARKS 1912-2005

While I was on my 18 day road-trip in the South and Southeast, 20th Century Renaissance man Gordon Parks, passed away at the age of 93. Dana Reeve's tragic death was reported along worldwide newswires on March 8th, and because of her youth, and her circumstances with husband Christopher, her death overshadowed Gordon's passing. So, I wanted to Honor this photojournalist, fashion photographer, poet, composer, novelist, painter and filmmaker who brought forward the 1971 film "Shaft" starring Richard Roundtree. The unforgettable theme song in that film by Isaac Hayes won an Academy Award (c). Mr. Parks became the first African-American to direct a film for a major studio in 1969. "The Learning Tree" is a drama based on his 1963 autobiographical novel about growing up in Kansas in the 1920's. His music, his writing and his films--even costuming will be remembered. But what inspired me was a 1998 interview he did as a Guest on PBS' NewsHour, where he said: "My life to me is like sort of a disjointed dream. ...It was a constant effort, a constant feeling that I must not fail, and I still have that. ...There's another horizon out there, one more horizon that you have to make for yourself and let other people discover it".

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What became his best known photograph was that of Ella Watson, a cleaning lady in Washington, D.C. Reflecting on that pivotal moment in his life and career, Parks said, "That was my first day in Washington, D.C. in 1942. I had experienced a kind of bigotry and discrimination here that I never expected to experience. And I photographed her after everyone had left the building.

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"At first, I asked her about her life, what it was like, and (it was) so disastrous that I felt that I must photograph this woman in a way that would make me feel or make the public feel about Washington, D.C. was in 1942.

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"So I put her before the American flag with a broom in one hand and a mop in another. And I said, 'American Gothic'--that's how I felt at the moment. I didn't care about what anybody else felt. That's what I felt about America and Ella Watson's position inside America".

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Philip Brookman, curator of photography at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. said, "He was an inspiration for many generations of people and not only artists. As someone who grew up in an environment of poverty and racism, he made it his mission to end that and he used art as a weapon to do it".

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I would encourage anyone to go online and check out the volume of work Mr. Parks achieved in his long life. It reminded me of the character of "Alfredo" in a movie I featured last year on "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" , "Cinema Paradiso", where the blind and aging Alfredo tells Toto, his beloved friend. "Life is not like the movies, Toto. Life is very hard". Despite many obstacles, Gordon Parks lived his life to the fullest.

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Have a great week!