Flavio Feeding Zacarias 1961

Gordon Parks made this photograph, *Flavio Feeding Zacarias*, using a camera, film, and light. Look at the hand pressed against that child's face. I can feel it, right in the pit of my stomach. As an artist, I often think about what it must have been like to stand where Parks stood, seeing this, knowing how to translate what you see into something meaningful. He’s dealing with some heavy stuff here – poverty, love, responsibility. The monochromatic tones make it all the more stark, the contrast punching up the emotion. It's not just about capturing a moment, it's about bearing witness. Parks was a storyteller, and that impulse to bear witness links him to other artists like Jacob Lawrence or Dorothea Lange, each using their medium to document and comment on the human experience. Parks' camera becomes a tool for empathy, challenging us to see beyond the surface. Each artist is responding to the world as it is, and inviting us to see and feel, too.