# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSp8V_FyKx
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16044695-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/d5a209fbb2.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-05-10T18:07:23.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

Artists have a variety of methods to make their mark. Every Friday we will share a photograph of an #ArtistInAction.
.
Gordon Parks (1912 - 2006) was a self-taught African-American photographer whose poetic images focused on the black experience. Inspired by the expressive photographs of migrant workers published in magazines that he saw as a young boy, Parks bought a camera from a pawnshop; “I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs,” he said. “I knew at that point I had to have a camera.” Without any formal training in photography, Parks’ exceptional talent landed him a position with the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which was an organization documenting the social conditions of the country. After FSA closed, Parks began a freelance project that focused on a Harlem gang leader. The 1948 photo essay led him to become the first black staff photographer on Life magazine. Parks published photos with Life for two decades. These images, which included celebrity portraits of Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Adam Clayton Powell, have since become iconic cultural images from the Civil Rights Movement. Later, Parks continued to make crucial contributions to 20th-century art with “The Learning Tree” and later “Shaft” and “Shaft’s Big Score!” that are mainstays of the blaxploitation genre.
.
#GordonParks
.
Image: Courtesy of The Gordon Parks Foundation, 1941.

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 604
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 11

## Tags

artistinaction, gordonparks

---
Copyright (c) Gondola