Children with Doll - Gordon Parks
It is a common practice to revise history or at least the telling of it (Michele Bachmann on slavery) so that it justifies the needs of the powerful. To understand the prominence of the United States of America in the world it is necessary to understand the history of the African in America, their contribution to the wealth of the nation and its cost. Preserving the truth, artists (through their work) have left us images and stories that invite wonder.
James VanDerZee, Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava are just a few artists who left us with incredible imagery that grabs our attention about the past and correctly makes no prediction about the future.
Until November 6, 2011, at the Norton Photography Gallery – Phoenix Museum of Art, Gordon Parks’ “Bare Witness”, a record of the 20th-century and the “unfulfilled promise of equality for African-Americans” will be on view. Much of the pain of the 20th century still exists, this exhibit and others like it serve to educate and lessen the hurt.