I can recall seeing Gordon Parks' reinterpretation of Grant Wood's American Gothic with a world-weary, older government employee with her mop and broom in front of an American flag as a young child. What I had not seen, however were the subsequent shots of the same older woman who toiled to keep courthouses and public displays of patriotism and equality immaculate for visitors to the fair Nation's Capital when she had to retire to a ramshackle hovel. A woman whose life was dedicated to cleanliness while all the time living in squalor. No one should have to live like that. Then or now. And sadly, I have seen the favelas of Brazil. I have seen children like those Parks' photographed for Life magazine. But before Life published Parks' photographs many had not. What is amazing about the small but representative exhibition of Parks' photography at the Corcoran is the breadth and power of his work. Knowing his life story he contributed many history firsts: the first African American to photograph for Vogue magazine, first photographer to receive a Julius Rosenwald fellowship. Perhaps it was his own destitute beginnings that lent themselves to compassion that is palpable through his lens and sensitivity in capturing his subjects.
I broke down halfway through an article accompanying a photo essay about a mother providing for her 10 children while all the time being beaten down by her alcoholic husband who could hardly hold down a job. From the family in Chicago to the children from the streets of Rio de Janeiro, to the federal employees whose "existences" he documented, theirs are the stories that break my heart and make me ashamed to have all that I have and only give them a second though when I enter spaces like this gallery. Or to see their faces splashed across television and newsprint like the ones on display. It is thanks to documentarians like the late Gordon Parks who remind us all of our own humanity.
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