Join us for a screening of A Choice of Weapons, an original documentary about legendary photographer Gordon Parks. Stay after the film for a talk-back featuring some of New Orleans most talented Black photographers.
Directed by John Maggio, A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks explores the enduring legacy of photographer, writer, composer, activist and filmmaker, Gordon Parks, and spotlights his visionary work and its impact on the next generation of artists. Through the lens of three contemporary photographers, we see Gordon’s legacy come to life. Devin Allen whose photograph “Baltimore Uprising” of the Freddie Gray protests was featured on the cover of Time Magazine; LaToya Ruby Frazier who for five years followed the Flint, Michigan water crisis and most recently photographed Breonna Taylor’s family for Vanity Fair; and Jamel Shabazz whose photographs on the streets of New York form a visual history of the hip hop era while simultaneously presenting affirming images for his community.
Carla Williams, currently the Percent for Art Collections Manager for the Arts Council of New Orleans. She is an independent photography historian, editor, writer, and artist. She is author of numerous essays and articles about photography and culture, and is co-author of two histories of photography, including The Black Female Body: A Photographic History with Deborah Willis. She is previously editor of the Chroma book series for the California Institute of Integral Studies and of exposure, the journal of the Society for Photographic Education. Williams received her MFA and MA from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque and her BA from Princeton University. She was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at Stanford University, and was previously Assistant Professor and MFA Director in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Eric Waters has been a professional photographer for more than 30 years. He studied under the tutelage of the late Marion Porter, a well known and respected black New Orleans photographer and owner of Porter’s Photo News. Waters decided early on in his career that New Orleans street culture had significant historical value and was worthy of documentation. He is best known for capturing the vibrant and energetic scenes of the Second Line and the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians. He is one of few photographers with the “insider’s view” of what makes this culture come alive. In 1985, he founded Ebonimages, a non-profit organization, to catalog and exhibit the collection of Marion Porter. The organization is dedicated to documenting African-American culture in New Orleans, especially jazz musicians, Black Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, Second Line parades, jazz funerals, and other social events.
L. Kasimu Harris is a New Orleans-based artist whose practice deposits a number of different strategic and conceptual devices in order to push narratives. He strives to tell stories of underrepresented communities in New Orleans and beyond. Harris has shown in numerous group exhibitions across the US, internationally, and has had eight solo photography exhibitions. In 2020, he was among 60 artists selected nationwide for State of the Art 2020 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and also had a solo exhibition, Vanishing Black Bars & Lounges: Photographs by L. Kasimu Harris at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh. His writing and photographs were featured in ” A Shot Before Last Call: Capturing New Orleans’s Vanishing Black Bars” which was published in The New York Times. Harris earned a BBA in Entrepreneurship from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Mississippi. Harris was a 2018 Artist-in-Residence at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, in 2020 Joan Mitchell Center Artist-in-Residence and named one of 8 “Louisianians of the Year” for 2017 by Louisiana Life magazine as well as 2022 Documentary Photographer of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities.
Ryan Marrero is a native of New Orleans. He is an African American filmmaker, photographer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur. He first found his passion for filmmaking through editing video game footage. He went on to become a first generation college graduate of the University of New Orleans in Film Arts. Presently Ryan captures timeless moments of clients through his media company, Marrero Productions, LLC.
Mariana Sheppard is an artist and arts administrator from New Orleans, LA. She currently serves as Managing Director for Junebug Productions. As a visual artist, Mariana's photography moves fluidly between street, portraiture, and conceptual photography. Her work explores themes of family, womanhood, and Black life. Her photographs have been on view at the McKenna Museum of African American Art and most recently, the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans. Her photographs have appeared in films such as "Sister Hearts" (2017) and "Intersection" (2017). Her commercial work has been used by a number of brands including OWN, Essence, GQ, SheaMoisture, Saucony, Tidal, and Square. Mariana holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University and a Master’s from Columbia University.
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks is a co-production of Kunhardt Films and HBO. Film for this screening provided by Kunhardt Film Foundation.