Portrait of a Young Boy, Harlem after 1943

Gordon Parks made this photograph, titled "Portrait of a Young Boy, Harlem." It's a gelatin silver print. I look at this kid, staring right at us, and I think of how Parks saw him, how he chose this moment. Parks was a master of light, and here, the way it glistens on the boy’s skin, the water droplets, it's like he's capturing something fleeting, something real. You can see the city in the background, a little blurred, like a stage set. Parks was a storyteller, a poet with a camera, he documented American life, especially the lives of Black Americans, with so much empathy. He made a lot of portraits, he wasn't just capturing a face, he was capturing a whole world. Artists like Parks show us how seeing is also about feeling, and how a single image can hold so much. We are all connected by this kid's look.