Gordon Parks "Voices in the Mirror" at the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York revisits intimate portraits, social observations and Parks' expansive capture of American life.

Gordon Parks “Voices in the Mirror,” titled after his final memoir published in 1990, is now on view at the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. The exhibition reignites a conversation with the legendary photographer and his subjects as The Gordon Parks Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary.

The 65 works on view within the expansive space reaffirm Parks’ familiar and lesser-seen works, with contributions and reflections from filmmaker Ava DuVernay; Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Deborah Willis, University Professor and chair of the department of photography and imaging at Tisch School of the Arts; Lonnie Ali, widow of Muhammad Ali; actress and model Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman; CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt, and other notable figures.

In revisiting Parks’ time with Life magazine during the 1950s through the 1970s, the exhibition captures the unequivocal truth of the enduring struggle for equality and the perseverance of Black American life. Through Parks’ lens, these experiences, while complicated, reveal the inherent beauty of humanity. As Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., executive director of The Gordon Parks Foundation, states, “allow us to continue learning from them, so that the past may continue to inspire us.”

What is revealed is Parks’ intimacy with his subjects, from Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X to fashion doyennes Bergman and Vanderbilt , a longtime confidant whom he was often photographed with on New York’s social scene.

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