Parks is an African American photographer who at that time,
worked for Life magazine. In 1950, Parks
returned to his hometown Fort Scott, Kansas to take a series of photographs of
his classmates to create “Back to Fort Scott”.
In one of his photographs, Parks photographed his friend
Mazel Morgan and her husband Willie Hubbard in their hotel room in Chicago’s
all black Bronzeville neighborhood. Morgan relaxed and slumped in a chair next
to a window and looks out the window at a blank brick wall. Hubbard lying down
on a bed next to Morgan’s chair and smoking a cigarette while staring at the
ceiling. The photograph was definitely beautiful and told a story and all those
components a skilled photographer knows but that wasn’t what caught my
attention.
The description of this photograph talks about the journey
of Morgan and Hubbard. The last sentence struck me. It explains that the couple
wasn’t exactly financially stable. But then the description ends with “ When
Parks prepared to depart, Willie pulled a loaded .45 on him and demanded all of
his money, which he quickly handed over.” (Parks, Museum of Fine Arts)
Many of Parks’ work send the readers with either positive or
negative messages. Whatever the message is, whether you take it from the
photograph itself or the description, it is worth seeing, thinking, and
discussing about.
No comments:
Post a Comment