Gordon Parks Foundation – A Beautiful Ghetto, Devin Allen

The link above takes you to the Gordon Parks Foundation website. The website has a lot of his work on display as well as the work of many others who have been inspired by his work. Gordon Parks himself was a social activist who took photographs which which illustrated the issues in civil rights during the early 40s all the way to the 2000s. The photo above is a picture from the website taken by Devin Allen. In the photograph we see a man next to a spray painted memorial with flowers at his feet. Having the picture focused on the man with his hand on the memorial is impactful as it draws the viewer’s attention to the memorial, noticing the short life of ‘Freddie Gray’. The flowers, halo, and the man’s hand being on the memorial all create empathy in the viewer. Also, having the photo in black and white creates this sense of sorrow.