Gordon Parks Exhibit at Cleveland Museum of Art

by

Ginaya Donnette

Uplyff, Inc. excitedly loaded two trucks and carpooled to the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) to see the early works of the original Renaissance Man, Gordon Parks, on the last day of the exhibit! The display, aptly titled The New Tide, Early 1940-1950, gave the fascinating early history of Parks.  Early in his career Parks bought a camera at a pawn shop and taught himself how to use it and very soon became a prominent US documentary photojournalist.

Parks believed he could use his camera as a weapon against poverty, racism, and social injustices.  His black and white images of everyday people illuminated to us the true long lasting economic impact of the war, the depression, and segregation on these "United States".  He exemplified the images that the government often tried to suppress. Parks gave us a voice through his work that expressed social issues in ways that words could never muster.