Can Gordon Parks' documentary photography be considered a truthful representation of reality?

Abstract

Documentary Photography focuses on recording and portraying what events or situations are happening in the world (Thompson, 2001). However, there is still much debate on what this implies and the characteristics that a good documentary photography project should have (Curtis, 1991). The issue of verisimilitude to reality is greatly discussed, especially in terms of what a truthful representation of reality is, which is why this research will try to understand whether Gordon Parks, a documentary photographer, was able to represent the world he faced in a truthful manner. Gordon Parks was an American photographer who worked for Life Magazine, Vogue and more throughout his career. He is considered a key figure in the field of documentary photography and has been regarded as one of the main mediatic figures in representing and documenting the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout his life, he reasserted the importance of the journalist’s figure as an objective observer, but he also expressed an emotional attachment to his many of the subjects and topics that he studied. In this thesis, this conflict of interest and how he worked and lived through it will be studied and understood, all while trying to find out how he dealt with it in his own work.