Jamel Shabazz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the young age of fifteen, he picked up his first camera and started his photographic journey. Since the early 1980s, Shabazz has captured the energy of street life in New York, making iconic images of community, joy, and style. Shabazz was one of the first photographers to document the emerging youth culture, along with his own experiences, in neighborhoods across East Flatbush, Bedford-Stuyvesant, downtown Brooklyn, up to Times Square. Capturing a time long gone from our collective culture and a wide range of social conditions, Shabazz made the streets of New York and the city's subway system the backdrop for many of his iconic photographs. Jamel Faces and Places, 1980–2023 is organized by Drew Sawyer, Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, with Imani Williford, Curatorial Assistant, Photgraphy, Fashion, and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum.
