Boys Fishing, Shady Grove, Alabama after 1956

This photograph, Boys Fishing, Shady Grove, Alabama, was made by Gordon Parks sometime in the mid-twentieth century. What strikes me is the surface quality of the image. It's rich in color, but there's a kind of graininess, like a painting that’s been worked over and over. You know, a painting where the artist is trying to find something. I love how Parks captures the texture of the water, that sense of stillness and reflection broken by the boys’ fishing lines. Then there's the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, this kind of ghostly, soft draping that almost obscures the scene. It's like a veil, adding to the dreamlike quality of the image. Parks makes a strong statement by using color film. Artists like Dawoud Bey might be a point of comparison in the commitment to art as an ongoing conversation about representation. It reminds us that art is never finished, always in process.