Gordon Parks: America is Me (Gordon Parks: A América sou eu)

Gordon Parks: America Is Me (Gordon Parks: A América sou eu) presents to the Brazilian public the work of one of the most important photographers of the 20th century and accompanies the first major exhibition of Parks’s photographic and film work in Brazil, the result of a partnership between the Instituto Moreira Salles and The Gordon Parks Foundation.

A multi-talented artist, Gordon Parks (Fort Scott, Kansas, 1912 – New York, 2006) built, over the course of his life, a diverse artistic production that spanned photography, cinema, music, and literature. His awareness of being a Black man in the Americas guided a body of work that exposed racism, inequality, and oppression, but also affirmed—through solidarity and humanism—the vitality of Black cultures and the struggle for emancipation.

In dialogue with the Brazilian context, Parks’s work highlights parallels and contrasts between the United States and Brazil, countries that host the largest Black populations outside Africa and share a history marked by slavery and racism. By bringing together images and reflections, this book invites readers to revisit narratives, identify shared struggles, and open paths toward new interpretations of the past and the future.

Featuring around 300 photographs by Gordon Parks, the catalog also includes texts by Janaína Damaceno, Iliriana Fontoura Rodrigues, and Sérgio Burgi, as well as a detailed chronology of the artist’s life and work and an interview with photographer Walter Firmo. This combination of images and reflections makes the publication an important reference for understanding the artistic, political, and human dimensions of Parks.