Gordon Parks' Segregation Story

from The Restraints: Open and Hidden 
Gordon Parks 
Shady Grove & Mobile Alabama 1956

These are a handful of the photographs that have been shown extensively the last few years under the title: the Segregation Story, but some of them were originally displayed in the pages of LIFE magazine in the photo essay referenced above.  Parks wasn’t from Alabama.  He grew up in Kansas, also very much under segregation and eventually he would return there to document its persistence well beyond its supposed end.  It would be a mistake, however, to view these only as social documents, and this goes far beyond an appreciation of their formal perfections.  I think that they reflect a depth of experience few photographer could claim.

Adrián Villar Rojas

Site Specific Monumental Sculptures 
clay, plaster, concrete, wood, cloth, 
debris & dirt

1&2.my Dead Family 2010

3&4.the most Beautiful of all Mothers 2015

5&6.my Dead Grandfather 2010

7,8&9.return the World 2012

10.the most Beautiful Moment of the War 2009

11&12.the Eternal Butterflies  2010

13,14&15.what Fire has brought me 2008

Everett Lee Jackson aka Cherokee

photographed by Pat Milo (James Patrick) 
Los Angeles CA circa 1960

He was called Cherokee because of his native American ancestry.  Cherokee started modeling around the age of sixteen.  According to one report he grew up in the Florida Everglades, while another says he was from Des Moines Iowa.  I don’t know if he’s still alive, but if he is, he’s eighty one years old.
Pat Milo is said to have been especially respected and well liked by his models for his hands off approach, by and large allowing them to assume their poses without interference or molestation.