Earlier this week, the Gordon Parks Foundation Annual Gala returned to Cipriani 42nd Street to celebrate the indelible legacy of Gordon Parks, the trailblazing photographer whose lens captured the soul of the Black American experience. This year’s gala gathered a Who’s Who of photography, fashion, art and activism and honored four luminaries whose careers reflect Parks’ ethos of beauty, truth and resistance: legendary model and activist Bethann Hardison, artist Rashid Johnson, First Lady of fashion Anna Wintour and civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young. One of the night’s most poignant moments came when Colman Domingo, Emmy winner and perennial awards season presence, presented Wintour with her award in what felt like a full-circle tribute to Parks’ own start at Vogue in 1944.
Pastor Ernest Ledbetter, JR. and Ernest Ledbetter III, whose family Parks famously documented in 1953 for a Life magazine feature on Chicago’s Black church life, kicked off the gala with an invocation. But if the room felt heavy with legacy, it was also buzzing with urgency. As Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., executive director of the foundation, remarked: “Tonight may be the most critical gala we’ve ever held. Because now, we are facing some of the strongest forces we’ve ever faced, determined to prevent progress, to erase history and to silence the voices that challenge injustice. Gordon gave us clear instructions: ‘Take what I’ve built—and push it forward. Take what I’ve started—and carry it into the future.’ That future is NOW.”
Kunhardt also acknowledged Mikki Ferrill and LeRoy Henderson, two vital artists from Parks’ orbit and now part of the Gordon Parks Foundation’s inaugural Legacy Acquisition Fund, an initiative that will support mid- and late-career artists whose work resonates with the photographer’s mission.
Spotted rubbing shoulders with art stars like Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Bisa Butler, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Kennedy Yanko, Sheree Hovsepian and Foundation Art Fellows Derek Fordjour and Scheherazade Tillet were designer Tory Burch, photographer Annie Leibovitz, Super Bowler Malcolm Jenkins, prima ballerina Misty Copeland, TV personality Gayle King and singer-songwriter Michael Stipe. Aurora James and Tyson Beckford were among the evening’s presenters and mingled with the likes of Ari Melber, Leslie Odom, Jr., Deborah Roberts, Jay Ellis, Dapper Dan, Prabal Gurung, Breanna Stewart, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and curators Jasmine Wahi and Legacy Russell.
In between speeches, Andra Day delivered a heart-wrenching rendition of “God Bless The Child” and Dave Guy of The Roots kept spirits buoyant with “Ruby’s Rubies.” Sotheby’s powerhouse Kimberly Pirtle took the lectern midway through the evening to help raise a record $3 million via a high-octane live auction of Parks’ photographs. Capping off what was an evening of substance, style and serious cultural gravitas, Day stepped back into the limelight to perform her certified quadruple platinum smash “Rise Up” in what was, all would no doubt agree, the perfect end to a perfect party.
Anna Wintour, Alexander Soros, Huma Abedin, Robin Hickman-Winfield and Annie Leibovitz
Peter W. Kunhardt Jr. and Bethann Hardison
Tory Burch
Derek Fordjour, Sarah Arison and Sanford Biggers
Catherine Gund and Bethann Hardison
Andra Day
Mickalene Thomas, Gayle King, Cari Champion and Jasmine Wahi
Carolyn Young and Andrew Young
Devin Allen
Michael Stipe
Jeff Yabuki and Peter W. Kunhardt Jr.
Deborah Willis and Hank Thomas
LeRoy Henderson
Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian
Misty Copeland
Kenneth Chenault and Kathryn Chenault
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Gordon Parks Foundation
Kennedy Anko
Glenda Hatchett
Tyson Beckford, Bethann Hardison and Aurora James
Hannah Traore
Melissa Haizlip
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