The Gordon Parks Foundation Unveils 2025 Fellows Program
The Gordon Parks Foundation has recently made an exciting announcement regarding its new Legacy Initiative. This initiative aims to support mid- and late-career artists whose work reflects the life and legacy of the renowned self-taught photographer Gordon Parks. Parks, celebrated for his documentary photography from the 1940s to the 1970s, focused particularly on the civil rights movement. Now, the foundation plans to work directly with artists each year to acquire a collection of their artworks for its permanent collection. These pieces will be available for study, research, and exhibitions, as well as featured in shows at the foundation’s gallery, with educational information about the artists and their contributions showcased on the organization’s website.
Meet the Honorees
The first artists to be recognized by the Legacy Initiative are Mikki Ferrill and LeRoy Henderson, both individuals who were part of Gordon Parks’s inner circle. These photographers utilized their art to advocate for social causes and foster connections among people, embodying and expanding upon Parks’s dedication to social justice and community involvement.
2025 Art Fellows and Writing Fellow
In addition to Ferrill and Henderson, the foundation has named interdisciplinary artist and educator Derek Fordjour and photographer and feminist activist Scheherazade Tillet as recipients of the 2025 art fellowships. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Salamishah Tillet, known for her contributions to the New York Times, has been awarded the Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing. Each of these talented individuals will receive a $25,000 award to support their current and upcoming projects centered on representation and social justice. Fordjour and Scheherazade Tillet will also have the opportunity to showcase their work in solo exhibitions at the foundation’s gallery in Pleasantville, New York, with the organization acquiring pieces from both artists for its permanent collection.
A Mission of Support
Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., the executive director of the Gordon Parks Foundation, emphasized the importance of the foundation’s grant, prize, and acquisition initiatives in supporting artists who share Parks’s creative vision and mission. By adding the work of these artists to its collection alongside Gordon Parks’s photographic archive, the foundation ensures that their contributions will be accessible to future generations of artists and scholars.
The honorees will be recognized and celebrated at the annual Gordon Parks Foundation Awards Dinner scheduled to take place in New York on May 20th.
