Benedictine Monastery, Atchison, Kansas after 1955

This gelatin silver print shows the Benedictine Monastery in Atchison, Kansas through the lens of Gordon Parks. The tones of grey are arranged to lead the eye across the flat plane to a line of nuns. Parks shoots from a low angle, so we’re right there in the grass, level with these women as they walk. The whole frame is full of subtle textures, the mottled grass, the rough bark of the trees, and the distant fields beyond, all conjured through the manipulation of light and shade. This play of light feels deeply personal, a record of a lived moment. See how the wind catches the sleeves of the first nun, almost pulling her backwards? That small gesture is so dynamic it could be a brushstroke. The contrast between the dark figures and the light ground is really interesting. Like the figures are emerging from, or disappearing into, the earth. The dark linear shapes of the nuns set against the landscape bring to mind the graphic simplicity of some of the Shaker landscapes. It reminds us that art is always in conversation.