“Death was all over him,” Parks wrote of Flávio, a severely asthmatic Brazilian boy, only 12, whose suffering he photographed. Parks was in Brazil for a Life-commissioned photo series, and his focus on Flávio not only illuminated poverty’s perils but told a story of deep empathy between photographer and subject. That empathy continued for many years afterward—a relationship caught and held by the camera. —C.J.F.
Gordon Parks: The Flávio Story
J. Paul Getty Museum
17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, USA
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