GORDON PARKS
Editeur : ACTES SUD
Année de parution : 2013
Le photographe, cinéaste et écrivain américain Gordon Parks aurait eu cent ans en 2012 ; son centenaire posthume a permis de remettre internationalement en lumière l’oeuvre de ce photoreporter et journaliste engagé, à la destinée exceptionnelle, dont la contribution à l’histoire politique des États-Unis du xxe siècle apparaît aujourd’hui d’une réelle importance. Sans doute, également, l’accession de Barack Obama à la présidence suprême a-t-elle favorisé une prise de conscience des mutations connues par l’Amérique en un peu plus d’un demi-siècle, mutations issues pour une large part des mouvements et luttes pour l’égalité des droits civiques et l’abolition effective de la ségrégation raciale dont Gordon Parks a été le témoin et le porte-drapeau. Dans un pays qui a fait de la figure du pionnier une source mythologique de l’héroïsme national, la biographie de Gordon Parks prend des allures d’épopée : premier photographe noir à rejoindre la prestigieuse FSA (Farm Security Administration), premier journaliste à réaliser un reportage sur un gang d’Harlem (1948), premier photoreporter noir à intégrer le staff permanent du magazine Life, premier réalisateur afro-américain à s’imposer à Hollywood (Shaft, 1971), la dimension pionnière de l’oeuvre de Parks est véritablement exemplaire.Né en 1912 à Fort Scott, petite ville du Kansas, Gordon Parks est le cadet d’une famille pauvre de quinze enfants. Orphelin de mère à dix-sept ans, pour survivre il multiplie les petits métiers, et découvre avec fascination le reportage photographique dans les pages des magazines qu’il ramasse dans les trains où il est employé. Parfaitement autodidacte, il s’achète un appareil d’occasion et entame à vingt-cinq ans une carrière de photographe indépendant. Boursier de la Fondation Rosenwald, une association qui promeut les jeunes talents noirs, il est remarqué en 1942 par Roy Stryker, célèbre patron de la FSA, qui l’invite à rejoindre son équipe de prestigieux photographes (Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn) et l’incite à développer et affirmer son propre style documentaire.La publication d’“American Gothic”, portrait d’Ella Watson, une femme de ménage noire posant devant le drapeau américain, est un choc pour l’Amérique blanche et conservatrice des années d’après-guerre. Il signe l’accès de Gordon Parks à la grande notoriété tout en fondant les principes éthiques et les modes d’investigation photographique qu’il déclinera durant toute sa carrière. Gordon Parks est un personnage flamboyant, radicalement engagé dans la lutte contre le racisme et la discrimination, qui utilise (selon ses propres termes) son appareil ou sa caméra comme une arme contre les préjugés et les injustices qui déshonorent et défigurent son pays. Ses reportages pour Life, véritables narrations au long cours, documentent les terribles conditions d’existence des Noirs américains et les ravages de la ségrégation en s’attachant à des individus (Red Jackson, Ella Watson, Hercules Brown, Flavio da Silva) ou des familles (les Fontenelle, les Causey, les Thornton) dont il gagne l’amitié et pour lesquels il se mobilise, parvenant à pénétrer les éprouvantes réalités quotidiennes qu’il a eu lui-même à connaître et dont il n’a jamais oublié les humiliations.
GORDON PARKS,
AN AMERICAN STORY The American photographer, film-maker and writer Gordon Parks would have been 100 years old in 2012 ; his posthumous centenary has helped to highlight the work of this socially active photo-reporter and journalist, whose contribution to the twentieth-century political history of the United States is now appreciated at its full value. Without a doubt Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency has helped to foster a certain awareness of the changes experienced by the United States over the past half-century, changes for the most part that were made possible by the human rights movements and the abolition of racial segregation of which Gordon Parks was not only witness but also standard bearer. In a country which has made the pioneer a source of mythology and national heroism, the biography of Gordon Parks reads like a real adventure story : first black photographer to join the prestigious FSA (Farm Security Administration), first journalist to cover one of Harlem’s gangs (1948), first black photo-journalist to be hired full time by Life magazine, first Afro-American film-maker to succeed in Hollywood (Shaft, 1971)…
Parks’ work was truly groundbreaking.Born in 1912 in Fort Scott, a small town in Kansas, Gordon Parks was the youngest of a poor family of fifteen children. His mother died when he was seventeen and to survive he went from one poorly paid job to another, discovering photojournalism in the pages of abandoned magazines that littered the trains on which he was paid as a cleaner. Completely self-taught, he bought a second-hand camera and launched into a twenty-five-year-long career as an independent photographer. Having won a scholarship from the Rosenwald Foundation, an association promoting the talent of young Blacks, he was noticed by the famous head of the FSA, Roy Stryker. Stryker invited him to join his team of prestigious photographers (Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn) and encouraged him to develop and assert his own style of documentary photography.The publication of « American Gothic », the portrait of Ella Watson, a black cleaning lady posing in front of the American flag, came as a shock to conservative white post-war America. It guaranteed fame for Gordon Parks as well as forming the basis of the ethical principles of investigative photo-journalism that he would apply throughout the rest of his career. Gordon Parks was a flamboyant personality, radically engaged in the fight against racism and discrimination, using (as he would say himself) his camera as a weapon against the prejudice and injustice that scarred and dishonoured his country. His articles for Life magazine, large scale long-term stories, highlighted the terrible conditions in which black Americans lived and the ravages of segregation. The effect was all the more powerful as he told the story from the point of view of individuals (Red Jackson, Ella Watson, Hercules Brown, Flavio da Silva) or of families (the Fontenelles, the Causeys, the Thorntons) who became his friends, in spite of the terrible daily humiliating realities that they, like he, had to confront and would never forget.
GORDON PARKS,
AN AMERICAN STORY The American photographer, film-maker and writer Gordon Parks would have been 100 years old in 2012 ; his posthumous centenary has helped to highlight the work of this socially active photo-reporter and journalist, whose contribution to the twentieth-century political history of the United States is now appreciated at its full value. Without a doubt Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency has helped to foster a certain awareness of the changes experienced by the United States over the past half-century, changes for the most part that were made possible by the human rights movements and the abolition of racial segregation of which Gordon Parks was not only witness but also standard bearer. In a country which has made the pioneer a source of mythology and national heroism, the biography of Gordon Parks reads like a real adventure story : first black photographer to join the prestigious FSA (Farm Security Administration), first journalist to cover one of Harlem’s gangs (1948), first black photo-journalist to be hired full time by Life magazine, first Afro-American film-maker to succeed in Hollywood (Shaft, 1971)…
Parks’ work was truly groundbreaking.Born in 1912 in Fort Scott, a small town in Kansas, Gordon Parks was the youngest of a poor family of fifteen children. His mother died when he was seventeen and to survive he went from one poorly paid job to another, discovering photojournalism in the pages of abandoned magazines that littered the trains on which he was paid as a cleaner. Completely self-taught, he bought a second-hand camera and launched into a twenty-five-year-long career as an independent photographer. Having won a scholarship from the Rosenwald Foundation, an association promoting the talent of young Blacks, he was noticed by the famous head of the FSA, Roy Stryker. Stryker invited him to join his team of prestigious photographers (Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn) and encouraged him to develop and assert his own style of documentary photography.The publication of « American Gothic », the portrait of Ella Watson, a black cleaning lady posing in front of the American flag, came as a shock to conservative white post-war America. It guaranteed fame for Gordon Parks as well as forming the basis of the ethical principles of investigative photo-journalism that he would apply throughout the rest of his career. Gordon Parks was a flamboyant personality, radically engaged in the fight against racism and discrimination, using (as he would say himself) his camera as a weapon against the prejudice and injustice that scarred and dishonoured his country. His articles for Life magazine, large scale long-term stories, highlighted the terrible conditions in which black Americans lived and the ravages of segregation. The effect was all the more powerful as he told the story from the point of view of individuals (Red Jackson, Ella Watson, Hercules Brown, Flavio da Silva) or of families (the Fontenelles, the Causeys, the Thorntons) who became his friends, in spite of the terrible daily humiliating realities that they, like he, had to confront and would never forget.
