"Untitled, Harlem, New York", 1963, is from the "I Am You series (1934-1978)", wherein Parks chronicled Black America’s struggle for equality, exposing the harsh realities of life in Harlem, institutionalized racism and poverty. Of the series Park wrote, "What I want. What I am. What you force me to be is what you are. For I am you, staring back from a mirror of poverty and despair, of revolt and freedom. Look at me and know that to destroy me is to destroy yourself. You are weary of the long hot summers. I am tired of the long hungered winters. We are not so far apart as it might seem. There is something about both of us that goes deeper than blood or black and white...”

Gordon Parks (b. 1912, Fort Scott, KS, d. 2006, New York, NY) was one of the seminal figures of twentieth century photography. A humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice, he left behind a body of work that documents many of the most important aspects of American culture from the early 1940s up until his death in 2006, with a focus on race relations, poverty, civil rights, and urban life. In addition, Parks was also a celebrated composer, author and filmmaker who interacted with many of the most prominent people of his ear- from politicians and artists to celebrities and athletes.

Widely collected, Parks’ photographs are in public collections across the US including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Massachusetts; The Art Institute Chicago, Illinois; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The J. Paul Getty Museum; and the International Center of Photography, New York. Recent exhibitions have been held at institutions including, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Carnegie Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Art Basel, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.