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Gordon Parks: The Flavio Story
The extraordinary story of one Life photo-essay by Gordon Parks and its impact This book explores a once-popular picture story by Gordon Parks and the extraordinary chain of events it prompted. Published in Life magazine in June 1961 as “ Freedom’s Fearful Foe,” this empathetic photo-essay profiled the da Silva family, living in a hillside favela near a wealthy enclave of Rio de Janeiro. Focused primarily on the eldest son Flavio, an industrious 12-year-old suffering from crippling asthma, Parks’ story elicited more than 3,000 letters and $25,000 in donations from Life readers to help the family and the favela. In Brazil the story sparked controversy; one news magazine, O Cruzeiro , retaliated against Life and sent photographer Henri Ballot to document poverty in New York City. Undeterred, Life embarked on a multi-year “rescue” effort that involved moving Flavio to a Denver hospital, relocating the family to a new home and administering funds to support the favela. The story, as well as Parks’ relationship to Flavio, continued to develop over many years. The details of this extraordinary history provide a fascinating example of US exceptionalism during the early 1960s and a revealing look inside the power and cultural force of the “Great American Magazine.”
300 pages, Hardcover
Published May 22, 2018
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August 24, 2018
Everyone who is anyone knows at least one Gordon Parks picture. Everyone. I read everything I could get my hands on by him and about him. He was an interesting guy. I remember when he died, I went to purchase some specific camera film and the guy that sold me the film said he went to his funeral in New York (it was the week previous) and inferred that he would tell me more about it if we went out. I thought that this was gross, dude is using a funeral to get a date. No thanks.
Now, Flavio was one of the more interesting Gordon Parks stories. I knew he worked for Life Magazine for a bit of time. What I didn't know was that he was not working for Life when he went to Brazil and was pretty much referred to this family with this little battery of a boy named Flavio. He went there initially to take pictures of the favelas but he was very much edged towards the family of Flavio. Gordon relented and said okay.
Before I go any further, there is one thing I want to write. Gordon Parks shot everything. He shot poverty and he shot fashion. He shot photojournalism and editorial. He did it all. There was a family he shot in Harlem-I think the father's name was Slim-but the story followed the wife and kids around to welfare offices. He followed the family everywhere, so when he went to shoot Flavio, for me, it was no big deal-nothing out of the ordinary.
Another thing, as a photographer, you want to get the best shot possible. You may have to move a chair here or have a person sit there to get the picture. Gordon did that with a few pictures of Flavio. Apparently, he went back and made a short film and they used dry ice to stage a scene of Flavio walking back to his home with water. I don't hate him for it. This was the rumor anyway.
Let's get back to the book.
There were two or three books about Flavio. There was Gordon's two and this one. Gordon did a huge photography book and a shorter book based on his diary in Rio. They were both mentioned in passing. So, Gordon is sent to Rio by Life but he tells Life magazine that he is going to basically do this his way because he doesn't work for them. Life says it's good, we'll send a translator with you down there. Everything is kosher. Gordon goes down, gets the pictures-even helps to watch the babies-and comes back to the states. Life publishes the pictures, people feel bad and send money for Flavio. What? Yeah, classrooms took up donations. Even small amounts and everything totaled enough for Life magazine to say hey, "We can buy the family a house and bring Flavio to the states to cure his asthma." So, they do just that. Purchase a house and move the family into it. (Which the family ends up destroying, by the way) Flavio is scared to death, but comes to America. Lives in Colorado and gets healthy and gets all kinds of tests done. He's well, even grows and puts on weight. Life readers are upadated and they say, "Well, let's help the whole favela!" Next thing you know, more donations and the entire favela is relocated to a better town with plumbing and electricity!! What?!
They pave over the favela and everyone is happy being moved to another place where they all get new houses, plumbing and electricity. You would think that's the end of the story, right? I didn't even know that much.
Well, there's another magazine called "O Cruzeiro". They get mad. "Look at this black man coming down here and exploiting our favelas and our people!! Look at how they are helping but really exploiting the cariocas!! We can't have that." So, the magazine gets this photographer to go to New York. And the photographer is like I'm going to find the poorest, shittiest part and look for the poorest, most low income family we can find and photograph them. I'm going exploit the shit out of them. The photographer's name was Henri Ballot.
Henri goes to Harlem. Finds this super mega duper poor Puerto Rican family and does the worst thing you can do as a photographer. He seems to have memorized all the pictures from the Gordon Parks article and mimics every single fucking shot. That's right. Every shot is an exact replica of the Life magazine article. Do they do anything to help the family? Nope. They just collectively thumb their noses at Life and Gordon Parks and do a shit editorial and that's the end of it. Brazil was like, "Pssht, we can't help those Puerto Ricans. We can barely help our own!! But we got those gringos now, didn't we?!" And they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Then, the finger pointing begins. "O Cruzeiro" starts saying things like, "We talked to the family of Flavio and they said they were forced to pose in these different positions. Gordon Parks bought lights in to take pictures of the inside because it was so dark and Flavio was a complete fool for going to the states and getting exploited. We, at O Cruzeiro, believe that all of this shit was fabricated and Gordon Parks is a sham. His diary is shit. The translator's diary is shit and his photo shoot was staged."
Meanwhile, time for Flavio to return to Brazil. He doesn't want to go back. His mother signed a paper letting them keep him in America for only two years. Now, Gordon and his host family both wanted to adopt Flavio. Flavio didn't want to go back, but his host mom pulls him aside and tells him about the paper and how they will keep in contact with him. She tells him how they will miss him. He asks to be adopted and she bursts into tears because she can't. He begs Gordon to adopt him but Gordon tells him, "Flavio, I would, but I just got divorced and they won't let me-a single man-adopt you. I will keep in touch."
Years pass. Flavio had enough money from Life Magazine that he actually got a monthly allowance. He got married. He had kids and one day, Life Magazine decided to close the offices in Brazil (pretty much everywhere) and they called Flavio. "Here's your last check from you allowances. We kept it in a bank account for you. We are sorry, but we have to leave. Please write to us if you need anything." Flavio takes the check and writes to Gordon. Gordon writes back. He writes to the host family. They write back. Eventually, everything tapers down and Gordon visits Flavio and his family again in the 70's. Gordon is a bit shocked at the condition of the house. Flavio apologizes but everyone is okay with it and he gives them a tour. I believe at some point, Flavio and his wife separate and Flavio lives out back in a shed for awhile. He's gotta get himself together.
I read all of this and gave pause. Okay. I sure would like to know Flavio's side of things. How did he see it all? Because this O Cruzeiro vs Life got a little too deep. Gordon presented his notes to show he didn't make anything up. He admitted to the dry ice. He said he put a flash in the house to make it a bit brighter because it was dark. He even stayed behind and visited the house alone to help the family-AND HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT!! So up yours, O Cruzeiro! You exploited a family and did nothing else but point fingers.
Once it all died down, Gordon said, "I should have never even gone to Brazil. I should not have bothered Flavio and his family because all of this has happened."
We get to the end of the book and who is there? Same soft eyes, older, wrinkled and still looking pretty decent-Flavio?! An interview from 2017!! Shut up! Flavio backs Gordon's story. He's got no dog in this hunt. He kinda owes nobody anything. He said that their favela was very dark, so he had to take the flash in there but outside of that, Gordon didn't stage anything. From what he could read and understand, Gordon never lied. All his notes were accurate and he didn't understand all this madness about these comparisons and what not. "Too much over nothing." Alright, Flavio!
He gave more of an interview-didn't know where one of his kids were, but kept in touch with them and his wife. He was a brick mason and built a brick house on top of the old Life Magazine house. It's where he still lives. He's such a laid back man, it was kinda shocking. The only time he was upset was because no one told him that Gordon died. He was writing all these letters to everyone and no one was writing him back. But he said, it's the least anyone could do was to let him know that Gordon died. He felt very bad about it but he moves forward.
This book was alarmingly eye opening. So many things I didn't know about all of this and left me feeling frustrated until Flavio's interview at the end. It was redemptive and made me feel happy.
Now, Flavio was one of the more interesting Gordon Parks stories. I knew he worked for Life Magazine for a bit of time. What I didn't know was that he was not working for Life when he went to Brazil and was pretty much referred to this family with this little battery of a boy named Flavio. He went there initially to take pictures of the favelas but he was very much edged towards the family of Flavio. Gordon relented and said okay.
Before I go any further, there is one thing I want to write. Gordon Parks shot everything. He shot poverty and he shot fashion. He shot photojournalism and editorial. He did it all. There was a family he shot in Harlem-I think the father's name was Slim-but the story followed the wife and kids around to welfare offices. He followed the family everywhere, so when he went to shoot Flavio, for me, it was no big deal-nothing out of the ordinary.
Another thing, as a photographer, you want to get the best shot possible. You may have to move a chair here or have a person sit there to get the picture. Gordon did that with a few pictures of Flavio. Apparently, he went back and made a short film and they used dry ice to stage a scene of Flavio walking back to his home with water. I don't hate him for it. This was the rumor anyway.
Let's get back to the book.
There were two or three books about Flavio. There was Gordon's two and this one. Gordon did a huge photography book and a shorter book based on his diary in Rio. They were both mentioned in passing. So, Gordon is sent to Rio by Life but he tells Life magazine that he is going to basically do this his way because he doesn't work for them. Life says it's good, we'll send a translator with you down there. Everything is kosher. Gordon goes down, gets the pictures-even helps to watch the babies-and comes back to the states. Life publishes the pictures, people feel bad and send money for Flavio. What? Yeah, classrooms took up donations. Even small amounts and everything totaled enough for Life magazine to say hey, "We can buy the family a house and bring Flavio to the states to cure his asthma." So, they do just that. Purchase a house and move the family into it. (Which the family ends up destroying, by the way) Flavio is scared to death, but comes to America. Lives in Colorado and gets healthy and gets all kinds of tests done. He's well, even grows and puts on weight. Life readers are upadated and they say, "Well, let's help the whole favela!" Next thing you know, more donations and the entire favela is relocated to a better town with plumbing and electricity!! What?!
They pave over the favela and everyone is happy being moved to another place where they all get new houses, plumbing and electricity. You would think that's the end of the story, right? I didn't even know that much.
Well, there's another magazine called "O Cruzeiro". They get mad. "Look at this black man coming down here and exploiting our favelas and our people!! Look at how they are helping but really exploiting the cariocas!! We can't have that." So, the magazine gets this photographer to go to New York. And the photographer is like I'm going to find the poorest, shittiest part and look for the poorest, most low income family we can find and photograph them. I'm going exploit the shit out of them. The photographer's name was Henri Ballot.
Henri goes to Harlem. Finds this super mega duper poor Puerto Rican family and does the worst thing you can do as a photographer. He seems to have memorized all the pictures from the Gordon Parks article and mimics every single fucking shot. That's right. Every shot is an exact replica of the Life magazine article. Do they do anything to help the family? Nope. They just collectively thumb their noses at Life and Gordon Parks and do a shit editorial and that's the end of it. Brazil was like, "Pssht, we can't help those Puerto Ricans. We can barely help our own!! But we got those gringos now, didn't we?!" And they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Then, the finger pointing begins. "O Cruzeiro" starts saying things like, "We talked to the family of Flavio and they said they were forced to pose in these different positions. Gordon Parks bought lights in to take pictures of the inside because it was so dark and Flavio was a complete fool for going to the states and getting exploited. We, at O Cruzeiro, believe that all of this shit was fabricated and Gordon Parks is a sham. His diary is shit. The translator's diary is shit and his photo shoot was staged."
Meanwhile, time for Flavio to return to Brazil. He doesn't want to go back. His mother signed a paper letting them keep him in America for only two years. Now, Gordon and his host family both wanted to adopt Flavio. Flavio didn't want to go back, but his host mom pulls him aside and tells him about the paper and how they will keep in contact with him. She tells him how they will miss him. He asks to be adopted and she bursts into tears because she can't. He begs Gordon to adopt him but Gordon tells him, "Flavio, I would, but I just got divorced and they won't let me-a single man-adopt you. I will keep in touch."
Years pass. Flavio had enough money from Life Magazine that he actually got a monthly allowance. He got married. He had kids and one day, Life Magazine decided to close the offices in Brazil (pretty much everywhere) and they called Flavio. "Here's your last check from you allowances. We kept it in a bank account for you. We are sorry, but we have to leave. Please write to us if you need anything." Flavio takes the check and writes to Gordon. Gordon writes back. He writes to the host family. They write back. Eventually, everything tapers down and Gordon visits Flavio and his family again in the 70's. Gordon is a bit shocked at the condition of the house. Flavio apologizes but everyone is okay with it and he gives them a tour. I believe at some point, Flavio and his wife separate and Flavio lives out back in a shed for awhile. He's gotta get himself together.
I read all of this and gave pause. Okay. I sure would like to know Flavio's side of things. How did he see it all? Because this O Cruzeiro vs Life got a little too deep. Gordon presented his notes to show he didn't make anything up. He admitted to the dry ice. He said he put a flash in the house to make it a bit brighter because it was dark. He even stayed behind and visited the house alone to help the family-AND HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT!! So up yours, O Cruzeiro! You exploited a family and did nothing else but point fingers.
Once it all died down, Gordon said, "I should have never even gone to Brazil. I should not have bothered Flavio and his family because all of this has happened."
We get to the end of the book and who is there? Same soft eyes, older, wrinkled and still looking pretty decent-Flavio?! An interview from 2017!! Shut up! Flavio backs Gordon's story. He's got no dog in this hunt. He kinda owes nobody anything. He said that their favela was very dark, so he had to take the flash in there but outside of that, Gordon didn't stage anything. From what he could read and understand, Gordon never lied. All his notes were accurate and he didn't understand all this madness about these comparisons and what not. "Too much over nothing." Alright, Flavio!
He gave more of an interview-didn't know where one of his kids were, but kept in touch with them and his wife. He was a brick mason and built a brick house on top of the old Life Magazine house. It's where he still lives. He's such a laid back man, it was kinda shocking. The only time he was upset was because no one told him that Gordon died. He was writing all these letters to everyone and no one was writing him back. But he said, it's the least anyone could do was to let him know that Gordon died. He felt very bad about it but he moves forward.
This book was alarmingly eye opening. So many things I didn't know about all of this and left me feeling frustrated until Flavio's interview at the end. It was redemptive and made me feel happy.
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September 6, 2019770.92 P2522f 2018
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