Feeling between worlds

Chandra Méndez-Ortiz's "Parks Entrance" unravels time

Chandra Méndez-Ortiz, “Parks Entrance,” 2023. Acrylic, collaged papers, photographs, and charcoal on canvas. 40”x60”. All images courtesy the artist.

Chandra Méndez-Ortiz’s “Parks Entrance” depicts an eerily familiar world – Gordon Parks’ famous 1956 photo of a Black woman, Joanne Wilson, and her niece, Shirley Blackwell, standing beneath a blaring sign, “Colored Entrance,” outside a Mobile, Alabama, department store. Ah yes, we know this. But it’s easy to look at a 68-year-old photograph and reflect on how times have changed.