Posted on
2025-11-17
Jamel Shabazz’s photography offers a vivid chronicle of urban life, friendship, and resilience from the 1980s to today. His lens captures the essence of community, moments of laughter among friends, the quiet pride of families, and the expressive power of style and self-presentation. Deeply rooted in the culture of the streets, his images reflect the rise of hip-hop as both a musical and visual movement, revealing how fashion, rhythm, and attitude became intertwined forms of identity and empowerment. Whether in black-and-white or color, Shabazz’s photographs radiate warmth and humanity, transforming ordinary encounters into timeless celebrations of connection.
The exhibition Love Is the Message marks the fiftieth anniversary of Shabazz’s career and showcases a remarkable selection from his personal archive-prints, cameras, and memorabilia that trace the evolution of his artistic journey. Each image, whether of a Brooklyn block or a moment shared between strangers, testifies to his belief that photography can heal, uplift, and build understanding. His work embodies love not as sentimentality but as a force of dignity and collective memory.
Opposite – A time of innocence, Flatbush, Brooklyn, 1981
Exhibition runs through to December 16th, 2025
Hofstra University Museum of Art
112 Hofstra University
Hempstead
NY 11549
www.hofstra.edu