Gordon Parks and The Politics of Colour
Candice Nembhard, frieze
August 2020

Following the successful launch of Kodachrome in 1935, Kodak dominated the colour film industry globally. Yet, the colour-reference images they used from the mid-1950s – known as ‘Shirley cards’ after the original model – carried implicit racial bias, since the film was designed to favour lighter-toned subjects. […]