Join this talk with publishing luminaries as they discuss and reveal never-before-seen beyond-the-scenes images taken that day by numerous photographers.

This event will also celebrate the original photo that started it all, shot by Art Kane in 1958 at the very same location on 126th Street in Harlem, NY.

(Photos © Jonathan Rheingold)

Tonight only!

The post A Great Night in Hip-Hop — Tonight at Fotografiska NY! appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Please join XXL veteran journalists and contributors on May 9, 2023 — Sheena Lester, Datwon Thomas, Bonsu Thompson, Larry H

Almost 25 years ago, on September 29, 1998, I placed my Rolleiflex camera in my shoulder bag and took the train up to 126th Street to meet Gordon Parks on the block where he would capture history for XXL — a magazine I helped launch in ’97. I spent the day with Mr. Parks for what would become one of my greatest life moments.  

I was always drawn to journalists and photographers. In my era, they were the documentarians of the golden age of hip-hop journalism: The Source, Vibe, Rap Pages, Ego Trip, On the Go, Stress, 4080 and, of course, XXL … those were the days, man. Although one of the greatest photographers to ever live, Parks had never documented hip-hop culture, and he was about to make some noise.

17 East 126th Street had already made history in 1958 with Art Kane’s original shoot for Esquire, coined “A Great Day in Harlem,” in which he captured 57 legendary jazz musicians. It was a powerful and cerebral moment watching the sun attempt to shut down the shoot of close to 200 rap legends as Parks was waiting to press the shutter-release button. He got the shot and history was made. As the dozens of rap artists dispersed, I took out my camera going through 10 rolls of film. I made it a mission to identify other folks who were snapping photos that day and developed the largest archive of behind-the-scenes photos of that “great day.”  

I am honored to receive the invitation from Fotografiska to moderate a discussion about the legendary photoshoots from ’58 and ’98. iD8 Entertainment has published a special-edition journal for the evening, in which I edited, entitled “Hip-Hop’s Greatest Day” — giving a glimpse of some of the day’s images that were captured by Parks’ protégé Johanna Fiore, former SLAM editor Ben Osborne and myself. (Shout out to Paul Scirecalabrisotto for the masterful design work).  

Tickets on sale here

It is incredible witnessing Kane’s photo continuing to reunite people 25 years later.  I’ve learned firsthand: Most great work is that which stands the test of time — which can only be realized later in one’s life when least expected.  

With the soon-to-be-released, five-episode podcast series on Audible (in which I am Executive Producer) entitled “The Greatest Day”, about Sheena Lester’s story of making the impossible happen, it is truly an honor to continue to strive to make sure this day is never forgotten and recognized as the greatest day in hip-hop history.

1 luv,

JONATHAN RHEINGOLD, RESPECT. Founder

Gordon Parks prior to capturing Hip-Hop’s Geratest Day. Photo: © Johanna Fiore

What also turn out to be … Hip-Hop’s “greatest” block party! Photo: © Johanna Fiore

The post A Great Night In Hip-Hop. Paying Tribute to Hip-Hop’s Most Iconic Photo at Fotografiska NY appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

“Through our publications and partnerships with museums, we continue to make discoveries in Gordon’s archive that reveal the breadth and impact of his work.”

Eighty years ago, while Gordon Parks was working in racially segregated Washington D.C., he visited the Howard University campus. For Gordon, the prestigious historically Black university represented extraordinary possibilities. Earlier this year, The Gordon Parks Foundation partnered with Howard on a historic acquisition of over 250 photographs. The Gordon Parks Legacy Collection at Howard University represents one of the most comprehensive resources for the study of Gordon’s life and work anywhere in the world. It ensures that future generations of students, artists, scholars, and activists at Howard will have the access and opportunity to learn from Gordon Parks.

This past year, the work of Gordon Parks Foundation Fellows and Prize recipients was celebrated through exhibitions, programs, and publications. In Pleasantville, we presented Fishing Was His Life, an exhibition of new work by 2020 art fellowship recipient Nina Chanel Abney. We also showed new work by LaToya Ruby Frazierfrom Flint Is Family In Three Acts, recipient of the inaugural Gordon Parks Foundation/Steidl Book Prize. In the weeks ahead, we will be releasing the second book awarded Prize, Jamel Shabazz: Albums as well as Ralph Ellison: Photographer, the first survey of this author’s lesser-known body of work, some of it made alongside Gordon Parks. We will also be announcing the recipients of two 2023 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowships in art and the next Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing. In 2023 we will also be featuring exhibitions by our 2022 fellows, Bisa Butler, Andre D. Wagner, and Nicole R. Fleetwood.

Through our publications and partnerships with museums, we continue to make discoveries in Gordon’s archive that reveal the breadth and impact of his work. This past spring, the Carnegie Museum of Art featured Gordon’s early photographs of workers at the Penola Grease Plant in Pittsburgh, and in the fall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opened Stokely Carmichael and Black Power, which featured never-before-seen images of the civil rights leader. We also published an expanded edition of Gordon Parks: Segregation Story, which features previously unpublished photographs and manuscripts from the series, and honored Ms. Cora Taylor, who was photographed by Parks for the book’s cover image. A selection of the Segregation Story images is now on view in Pleasantville.

Today, on what would have been Gordon’s 110th birthday, I am writing for your year-end support to help us continue to make this work possible.

All my thanks,

Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., Executive Director of The Gordon Parks Foundation

The post The Power of the Lens: How GORDON PARKS’ Work Continues to Forces Change! appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Photo: Gordon Parks, Drug Search, Chicago, Illinois, 1957.

RESPECT. Magazine Proudly Endorses The Gordon Parks Foundation’s Exhibition: “The Atmosphere of Crime”

What do we mean by “crime” in America? The question should be easy to answer—we have detailed codes and statutes that forbid certain conduct defined as a criminal offense. We have an elaborate system of policing, prosecution, punishment, and incarceration that involves millions of people. But there’s a great deal more to how we think and talk about crime, and certainly to how we see and enforce criminal laws.

From the beginning, the prosecution and punishment of crime in this country have been profoundly shaped by race, poverty, power, and status. For centuries politicians have stoked fear of crime and exploited perceived crime waves, while our public discourse about crime has been compromised by persistent inattention to our history of racial violence. There is a different narrative about “crime in America” that we have for the most part ignored.

In 1957, Life magazine editors engaged staff photographer Gordon Parks and writer Robert Wallace to explore crime in the United States. The published article, by Wallace and staff editors, was a myopic rendering of the dominant narrative about crime and criminality, emblematic of a discourse shaped by politicians, law enforcement officials, and criminologists not interested in reckoning with pervasive racially motivated criminality.

Photo: Gordon Park. Untitled, Chicago, Illinois, 1957

Gordon Parks’s photographs told a different story. As an African American survivor of racial injustice, he was keenly aware of race and class in America, and this palpably informed his photography and his art. He consistently humanized people who were meant to be objects of scorn and derision. It’s this dissonance with a conventional crime narrative that makes his “crime” photos for Life so compelling today.

Excerpt from Bryan Stevenson, “The Lens of Gordon Parks: A Different Picture of Crime in America,” in Gordon Parks: The Atmosphere of Crime, 1957 (co-published by The Gordon Parks Foundation, The Museum of Modern Art, and Steidl, 2020).

A version of this exhibition titled Gordon Parks and The Atmosphere of Crime was originally on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from Spring 2020–Spring 2022.

The Gordon Parks Foundation Gallery

Through November 4, 2022

The post How GORDON PARKS Documented the Prosecution & Punishment of Crime Shaped by Race, Poverty and Power appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

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Our new exhibition, A Great Day, opens today in Pleasantville. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Gordon Parks’ photograph A Great Day in Hip-Hop, Harlem, New York, 1998. The multimedia group exhibition features photographs by Art Kane, Gordon Parks, and Jonathan Rheingold; a documentary short video by Nelson George; and archival materials related to the photograph. It is free and open to the public from February 1 through March 29, 2019.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #gordonparks #gordonparksfoundation #photographer #photography #greatday #hiphop #artkane #jonathanrheingold

A post shared by @ gordonparksfoundation on Feb 1, 2019 at 11:00am PST

Among the timeless snaps held within the Pleasantville, NY location are some taken by RESPECT.’s creator, Jonathan Rheingold — it’s amazing that his pictures almost didn’t see the light of day (in his words):

As the dozens and dozens of rap talent dispersed from the stoops, I took out my camera…ultimately going through 10 rolls of film — all inspired by Mr. Parks. I brought the film to a lab and ordered some contacts. They appeared overexposed, so I tossed them in a drawer. RESPECT. magazine recently published a tribute to the 20th anniversary of the XXL shoot by reproducing “The Game Changer,” former XXL editor Sheena Lester’s recollection of Hip-Hop’s greatest day. At press time I remembered the negatives, found them, had them scanned and, to my delight, they were exactly what I recalled capturing.

You can check out more over at the Gordon Parks Foundation website. ‘A Great Day’ exhibition will run until March 29th…you can also get your hands some some of Rheingold photos from that day here.

The post The Gordon Parks Foundation Remembers ‘A Great Day’ in Hip-Hop with New Exhibit appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.