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Camp Fern Rock (archer)

  • $85.00

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Shot by Gordon Parks in the summer of 1943 at Camp Fern Rock in New York, this low-angle photograph captures the strength and serene stature of camper Loretta Gyles as she aims her arrow. While Parks often used his time with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) to document widespread segregation, his summer camp series endeavored to subvert the implicitly racist imagery often associated with outdoor recreation and the American wilderness. The concept of summer camp originally emerged as a retreat for young white males, but interracial camps like Camp Fern Rock and Camp Nathan Hale were rare microcosms intended to advance integration and equality in the outdoors. At these camps, Gordon created images of black and white children eating, washing, and playing together that directly mirrored the settings of some of the most antagonistic racial unrest of the time, including restaurants, restrooms, and recreational areas. Gyles is cast as a dominant, independent figure, confident yet calm against the often racially-charged and contentious backdrop of a thicket of trees. Parks’s photograph shows a typical American teen thriving in social and spatial equity.

In Camp Fern Rock (archer), camper Loretta Gyles aims her arrow out of shot. The composure and concentration on her face is captivating, a subtle squint in her eyes, her mouth slightly ajar as she steadies her bow. There’s so much strength in that fist in the fore, so much grace in her angled elbow. Parks’ shallow depth of field blurs the background, emphasizing Gyles against a rapt audience of trees (subverting the racially-charged, violent symbolism of trees in the process). She’s just a girl, but the low angle of the shot gives her a goddess-like presence — Diana the Huntress of upstate NY. That Parks has positioned her as a dominant, independent figure here is a radical act in and of itself, particularly when you consider the context: a camp that worked against the exclusion of People of Color from outdoor spaces ... Read more on the blog!

+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available

Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.

Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta

Edition Structure:
8"x8" | edition of 10
11"x11" | edition of 200
16"x16" | edition of 25