The Gordon Parks Foundation Launches Collection-Building Initiative With Mikki Ferrill & LeRoy Henderson

The Gordon Parks Foundation has announced the formation of The Gordon Parks Foundation's Legacy Initiative, a collection-building fund that will focus on mid-and late-career artists whose enduring work is connected to Parks's life and legacy.

Each year, the Foundation will identify artists and work directly with them to purchase a group of artworks that will be accessioned into The Gordon Parks Foundation's permanent collection. These works will be made available for study, research, and exhibitions, and featured in exhibitions at The Gordon Parks Foundation's Gallery. Additionally, the Foundation will make available on its website educational resources about the artists and their life's work.

In the Legacy Initiative's inaugural year, The Gordon Parks Foundation will recognize two celebrated artists and members of Gordon Parks's circle, Mikki Ferrill and LeRoy Henderson. Like Parks, throughout their careers, Ferrill and Henderson have demonstrated how photography can be used as a tool for advocacy and human connection, reflecting and expanding on Parks's commitment to social justice and community engagement. By launching the Legacy Acquisition initiative with Ferrill's and Henderson's work, The Gordon Parks Foundation is honoring their significant contribution to the history of photography.

 “Far too often the people who lay the groundwork are overlooked and forgotten,” said Mikki Ferrill. “The Legacy Fund not only recognizes the foundation that was laid, it also acknowledges the dedication made before photography became as popular as it is now.”

“I cannot think of an organization from which I could receive support that would mean more to me,” adds LeRoy Henderson. “From the earliest days of my interest in photography, Gordon Parks has been an inspiration and role model.”

Since 2017, the foundation has awarded annual fellowships to artists following in Gordon Parks's footsteps working in a variety of fields and mediums. This year's Gordon Parks Foundation's Art Fellowships are being awarded to interdisciplinary artist and educator Derek Fordjour, photo-based artist and feminist activist Scheherazade Tillet and The Gordon Parks Foundation's Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing is awarded to 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning contributing critic-at-large for the New York Times, Salamishah Tillet. These fellowships support the development of new or ongoing projects that explore the themes of representation and social justice and are in historical dialogue with Gordon Parks's work. The fellows will participate in a wide range of Foundation initiatives and programs throughout the year, culminating in a solo exhibition at The Gordon Parks Foundation Gallery in Pleasantville, NY. The Foundation will also acquire work by the art Fellows for its permanent collection.

“The Gordon Parks Foundation's grant, prize, and acquisition initiatives are an integral part of our mission, as we strive to support the kind of artistic networks that were vital to Gordon's own career” said The Gordon Parks Foundation's Executive Director Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr. “Gordon received the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship for photography in 1941 and it's an honor to be able to continue providing the same impactful support to artists who we are inspired by, and who share Gordon Parks's creative goals and the mission of the foundation. Having the work of these artists in our collection, alongside Gordon's own photographic archive, ensures that this work will be made available for future generations of artists and scholars.”

All the above will be recognized at this year's Annual Awards Dinner & Auction of Gordon Parks's photographs on Tuesday, May 20 at Cipriani 42nd Street. Every year, the gala brings together changemakers across film, music, fashion, art and philanthropy, and this year's event will honor legendary model and activist Bethann Hardison, acclaimed contemporary artist Rashid Johnson, Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer, Condé Nast, and Global Editorial Director, Vogue and politician, minister and civil rights leader Ambassador Andrew Young, who was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mayor of Atlanta and a U.S. Congressman. The evening's special guests will include the son and grandson of Rev. E.F. Ledbetter, who Gordon Parks photographed extensively in Chicago in 1953 for a story on the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. These photographs will be the subject of an exhibition at Howard University in early 2025.

The co-chairs for the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation Awards Dinner & Auction are: Alicia Keys and Kasseem Dean, Tonya and Spike Lee, Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, Anderson Cooper, Sarah Arison, Kathryn and Ken Chenault, Michi Jigarjian, Judy and Leonard Lauder, Carol Sutton Lewis and William M. Lewis, Jr., Crystal McCrary and Raymond McGuire, Clara Wu Tsai and Gail and Jeff Yabuki. All proceeds from the evening will support year-round educational programming as well as the fellowships, prizes, and scholarships provided by The Gordon Parks Foundation to the next generation of artists, writers, and students whose work follows in Parks's footsteps.

Tickets are available starting at $2,000 and can be purchased on the Gordon Parks Foundation website or by contacting Buckley Hall Events at gpfgala@buckleyhallevents.com or 914-579-1000.