Alison Jacques marks the twentieth anniversary of The Gordon Parks Foundation with a focused exhibition that cuts straight to the core of Gordon Parks’ legacy. Titled GORDON PARKS: WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED and curated by civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, the show runs from 5 March to 11 April 2026 at the gallery’s Cork Street space in London. It brings together a concise selection of images spanning 25 years of Parks’ practice, framing him as both artist and humanitarian, deeply committed to social justice.
Parks’ own words set the tone. He described his camera as a weapon against racism, intolerance and poverty, a choice shaped by his upbringing in segregation. Self-taught, he bought his first camera from a Seattle pawn shop for less than $12, setting in motion a body of work that consistently challenged dominant narratives in America.
Stevenson brings a clear perspective, drawing on his work with the Equal Justice Initiative and as the author of Just Mercy. His selection highlights both struggle and resilience in Black American life, while holding onto the dignity and complexity that define Parks’ images.
The exhibition includes some of Parks’ most recognized photographs, from American Gothic, Washington, D.C., to his documentation of the 1963 March on Washington, including his portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivering the “I Have a Dream” speech. A key section focuses on his Segregation in the South series from 1956, commissioned by Life Magazine and published as The Restraints: Open and Hidden, following Black families in Alabama with a level of care and humanity that challenged prevailing stereotypes.
Seeing the work up close carries weight. The images quietly document segregation in America, pairing historic moments with everyday scenes of families, parents and children living within it. Those ordinary photographs often land the hardest, grounding the broader history in lived experience.
Presented in London, the exhibition underscores how Parks shaped how America saw itself, with Stevenson sharpening its relevance to the present. The show is on until April 11th, 2026.
