The Gordon Parks Foundation has long championed the legacy of one of America’s most significant visual storytellers, and with the launch of its new Legacy Initiative, that commitment is entering a new chapter. Designed to recognize and support mid- and late-career artists whose work echoes Parks’s dedication to social justice and visual storytelling, this collection-building fund ensures that their contributions will be preserved, studied, and celebrated for generations to come.
For its inaugural year, the Foundation has selected two photographers who not only shared a deep connection with Parks but have also built careers steeped in advocacy and human connection: Mikki Ferrill and LeRoy Henderson. Their work, much like Parks’s, captures the struggles, triumphs, and everyday beauty of the communities they document. By acquiring their photographs for the Foundation’s permanent collection, the Legacy Initiative ensures their work will be accessible for exhibitions, research, and education.
Left: Mikki Ferrill portrait by Ira Atkins, Right: LeRoy Henderson
“Far too often, the people who lay the groundwork are overlooked and forgotten,” says Ferrill. “The Legacy Fund not only recognizes the foundation that was laid, it also acknowledges the dedication made before photography became as popular as it is now.” Henderson echoes this sentiment, expressing gratitude for an honor that ties directly to his early inspirations: “I cannot think of an organization from which I could receive support that would mean more to me.”
This initiative builds upon The Gordon Parks Foundation’s ongoing efforts to support artists who share Parks’s creative and humanitarian mission. Since 2017, the Foundation has awarded fellowships to emerging and established artists working across mediums. This year’s Art Fellowships recognize interdisciplinary artist and educator Derek Fordjour and photo-based feminist activist Scheherazade Tillet, while the Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing is awarded to Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Salamishah Tillet. These fellows will participate in Foundation programs throughout the year, culminating in solo exhibitions at The Gordon Parks Foundation Gallery in Pleasantville, NY.
Mikki Ferrill, Untitled from The Garage series, 1972/73
“The Gordon Parks Foundation’s grant, prize, and acquisition initiatives are an integral part of our mission, as we strive to support the kind of artistic networks that were vital to Gordon’s own career,” says Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., the Foundation’s Executive Director. “Having the work of these artists in our collection, alongside Gordon’s own photographic archive, ensures that this work will be made available for future generations of artists and scholars.”
The Foundation will celebrate this year’s honorees and fellows at its Annual Awards Dinner & Auction on May 20 in New York City. The event will bring together luminaries from the arts, activism, and philanthropy, the gala will honor model and activist Bethann Hardison, contemporary artist Rashid Johnson, Vogue’s Anna Wintour, and civil rights leader Ambassador Andrew Young. The event will also highlight an upcoming exhibition at Howard University featuring Gordon Parks’s 1953 photographs of the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.
The Gordon Parks Foundation continues to solidify its role as a steward of Parks’s work and a beacon for artists dedicated to using their craft as a force for change. Through its initiatives, it ensures that the legacy of one of America’s greatest photographers lives on—not just in archives and exhibitions, but in the continued fight for representation, justice, and the power of visual storytelling.
Banner image courtesy of The Gordon Parks Foundation.
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