Recipients of the 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship in Art are Larry W. Cook and Tonika Lewis Johnson. | Images: From left, Courtesy of GPF and Photo by Ken Carl
The announcement of its 2024 Fellows was made by THE GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION. The fellowship recipients include conceptual artist and archivist Larry W. Cook and Tonika Lewis Johnson, a photographer and social justice artist (both pictured above). Moreover, the Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing goes to author D. Watkins (shown below).
The fellows are recognized for their creative practices that focus on representation and social justice. They will each receive $25,000 to support their work. Over the year, they will participate in foundation programs, and initiatives and eventually produce a solo exhibition at the Gordon Parks Foundation in Pleasantville, N.Y.
Executive Director of The Gordon Parks Foundation, Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., stated, “Through their art and writing, our 2024 Fellows have brought attention to systemic racism and community activism. We are proud to support Larry, Tonika, and D. as they continue to enact change through their art in much the same way Gordon Parks did throughout his lifetime.”
“Through their art and writing, our 2024 Fellows have brought attention to systemic racism and community activism.”
— Gordon Parks Foundation Executive Director Peter W. Kunhardt Jr.
Cook utilizes photography, video, and mixed media in his work. The fellowship he received was awarded in partnership with Howard University in Washington, D.C. He is an associate professor of photography at Howard University. Cook’s practice explores the pose and hand-painted backdrops within vernacular club and prison photographs and re-imagines them through collage, digital manipulation, and staged photography. His work celebrates the pose as a form of individual agency and pays homage to the rich tradition of Black cultural spaces.
Johnson is a photojournalist and former teaching artist focused on preserving Chicago’s Black cultural memory and exposing the injustices of the city’s racial and institutional segregation. She co-founded the Englewood Arts Collective and the Resident Association of Greater Englewood. Johnson’s recent work includes the Folded Map project, which investigates disparities among “map twins” living on opposite ends of the same streets, bridging conversations across Chicago’s racial and economic divides. She also assumed the role of Artist as Instigator for the National Public Housing Museum, working on her latest project, Inequity for Sale, which sheds light on the history of homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in Greater Englewood during the 50s and 60s.
# The Gordon Parks Foundation Announces 2024 Fellows: D. Watkins, Larry “Poncho” Brown, and Tonika Johnson
The Gordon Parks Foundation has revealed that Larry “Poncho” Brown, Tonika Johnson, and D. Watkins will be its 2024 fellowship recipients. The Gordon Parks Foundation fellowship program, established in 2017, seeks to honor the legacy of the renowned photographer, who was born in 1912.
The late Genevieve Young served as the executor of Parks’s estate and played a pivotal role in the creation and progress of the foundation. This was from 2006 until her passing in 2020.
This year, D. Watkins, author of several acclaimed books and a television writer and host, is set to receive the Genevieve Young Fellowship in Writing. His works include “The Wire: The Complete Visual History,” “We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America,” and “The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America”. He is also renowned for his memoirs, which include “Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments” and “The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir”. Additionally, he collaborated with Carmelo Anthony on his memoir “Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised: A Memoir of Survival and Hope.” Furthermore, Watkins contributes to Salon as an editor and lectures at the University of Baltimore.
The Gordon Parks Foundation fellowship prides itself on supporting individuals like Larry, Tonika, and D. as they continue to effect change through their art, reminiscent of the enduring impact Gordon Parks had during his lifetime, according to Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., the Foundation’s Executive Director.
The 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellows will be honored at the annual Gordon Parks Foundation Awards Dinner on May 21 in New York City. The event will also pay tribute to notable figures, including artist Mickalene Thomas, civil rights activist and former NAACP Chair Myrlie Evers-Williams, and athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick. Alicia Keys and Kasseem Dean (Swizz Beatz) will be recognized as patrons of the arts, along with special acknowledgment of Richard Roundtree (1942-2023) and the impactful film “Shaft,” which was directed by Parks and launched Roundtree’s acting career.
The foundation awards and gala serve to fund fellowships, prizes, scholarships, and educational programming for aspiring artists, writers, and students, ensuring the longevity of Parks’s extraordinary legacy.
The Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship has supported various outstanding individuals in the past, including Jammie Holmes and José Parlá (2023), Bisa Butler and Andre D. Wagner (2022), Nina Chanel Abney and Tyler Mitchell (2020), Guadalupe Rosales and Hank Willis Thomas (2019), Derrick Adams and Deana Lawson (2018), and Devin Allen and Harriet Dedman (2017). The Genevieve Young Fellowships were awarded to Melanee C. Harvey (2023) and Nicole R. Fleetwood (2022).
The foundation encourages reading and education and recommends several noteworthy books about Gordon Parks, such as “Gordon Parks: Segregation Story,” “Gordon Parks: The New Tide: Early Work 1940–1950,” and “Invisible Man: Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellison in Harlem.” For children, it suggests “Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America.” Books by D. Watkins, including “The Wire: The Complete Visual History,” “We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America,” “The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America,” “Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments,” “The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir,” and “Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised: A Memoir of Survival and Hope,” are also recommended.
The Gordon Parks Foundation encourages and welcomes support from those who cherish and value its initiatives, with funding going towards extensive research, reporting, writing, and production.
