Mother and Children, Shady Grove, Alabama after 1956

This photograph, made by Gordon Parks somewhere in Shady Grove, Alabama, is full of gentle colour and careful composition. The artist has looked long and hard, I think, searching for a place of rest in what looks like a difficult scene. I can imagine Parks, camera in hand, moving slowly, respectfully, around this family. He notices the slight droop of the mother’s shoulder, the way the children turn their heads toward the tap. There’s so much care in how the colour is distributed, how the cool blues of the children's dresses are echoed in the metal dish, creating a soft harmony. But it’s more than harmony. It is a search for something hopeful. The artist uses the colours to lift the image beyond documentary, allowing the eye to rest on the tenderness, the hope, even in the bleakness.