Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta is hosting a significant exhibition of Gordon Parks’ color photography, titled "The South in Colour." Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, the show features over 30 works from Parks’ 1956 "Segregation Story" series, including previously unshown images and a new portfolio from The Gordon Parks Foundation. The collection documents the daily lives of the Thornton, Causey, and Tanner families in Alabama, capturing the quiet dignity of Black Americans living under the oppressive Jim Crow laws of the postwar era.
This exhibition marks the 70th anniversary of the original Life magazine publication and the 20th anniversary of The Gordon Parks Foundation, highlighting Parks' enduring legacy as a pioneer of social justice photography. By utilizing color film and a Rolleiflex camera at a time when photojournalism was predominantly black and white, Parks humanized the Civil Rights struggle, moving beyond tropes of victimhood to present a lush, intimate, and complex portrait of Black life that remains historically and emotionally resonant today.