Jamel Shabazz (born 1960) is an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

, fine-art,

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, and

street style Street style is fashion that is considered to have emerged not from studios, but from the population at large. Street fashion is generally associated with youth culture, and is most often seen in major urban centers. Magazines and newspapers co ...

photographer. His work has been published in books, shown in exhibitions, and used in editorial magazine works. He was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. Shabazz centers his work on minority people and areas of America. He was a pioneer in creating awareness of the livelihoods of African-American and other minorities in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

area. Shabazz is considered a master at using what is at his disposal to create realistic scenes of being a part of the

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

community in that time and place. His works express the joys that come with growing up in the city. Jamel paints the minority and poor class that lives there in a familiar and playful light that goes against negative stereotypes of the time. One of his mst famous works is the photograph "A Time of Innocence", taken in 1981 in Brooklyn, New York.This photograph depicts a group of young African American children playing and riding in a shopping cart in the midst of a chaotic street.

Career

His book ''Back in the Days'' (2002) collects Shabazz's street style photographs made in New York City between 1980 and 1989, which document its emerging

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

culture. ''The Last Sunday in June'' (2003) collects ten years of photographs of

gay pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, Social equality, equality, and increas ...

events in New York City. ''Sights in the City: New York Street Photographs'' (2017) contains work from four decades of photographing people in the city. ''City Metro'' (2020) contains photographs made between 1980 and 2018 of people on the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

. Shabazz's photographs have appeared in the 2007 documentary film ''

Planet B-Boy ''Planet B-Boy'' is a 2007 documentary film that focuses on the 2005 Battle of the Year while also describing B-boy culture and history as a global phenomenon. This documentary was directed by Canadian-American Korean filmmaker Benson Lee, shot ...

,'' the 2008 exhibition ''Street Art Street Life: From the 1950s to Now'' in the

Bronx Museum of the Arts The Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), also called the Bronx Museum of Art or simply the Bronx Museum, is an American cultural institution located in Concourse, Bronx, New York. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th-century works created by ...

, and as the

album cover art An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of and 78 ...

for the 2011 hip hop album '' Undun'' by

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

. Shabazz appeared in

Cheryl Dunn Cheryl Dunn is an American documentary filmmaker and photographer. She has made two feature films, ''Everybody Street'' (2013) and ''Moments Like This Never Last'' (2020). She has had three books of photographs published: ''Bicycle Gangs of New Y ...

's 2010 documentary ''Everybody Street,'' which is "about photographers who have used

street life as a major subject in their work." In an interview with ''

Nation19 ''Nation19'' is a magazine that blends hip-hop culture, photojournalism, activism, and anthropology. The printed and digital magazine is produced and published by multimedia activists, visual anthropologists, and film directors Queen Muhammad Ali ...

'' magazine, Jamel said he uses both analog film and

digital photography Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is ...

. In 2016, a fictionalized version of Shabazz was portrayed by Cedric Benjamin in a flashback in the second episode of ''

Luke Cage Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr. in 1972, he was the first Af ...

''.

Publications

*''Back in the Days.'' Brooklyn: powerHouse, 2002. . *''The Last Sunday in June.'' Brooklyn: powerHouse, 2003. . *''A Time Before Crack.'' Brooklyn: powerHouse, 2005. . *''Seconds of My Life.'' Brooklyn: powerHouse, 2007. . *''Sights in the City: New York Street Photographs.'' Damiani, 2017. . *''Back in the Days: Remix.'' Brooklyn: powerHouse, 2017. . *''City Metro''. Bene Taschen, 2020.

Awards

*Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation Award (2010) * The Gordon Parks Foundation Award for Documentary Photography (2018) *Gordon Parks Foundation/

Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher based in Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl, it publishes photobooks. Overview The company was started by Gerhard Steidl.Bill Kouwenhoven, "Off to see the wizard", ''British Journa ...

Book Prize (2022) * Lucie Award for Documentary (2023)

References

External links

* *
"City Metro by Jamel Shabazz"
photographs at ''Another Magazine''
''The Bronx Daily'' article about Bronx Museum exhibit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shabazz, Jamel Living people 1960 births 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people Photographers from Brooklyn Photographers from New York (state) African-American photographers American street photographers