Open Air: Artist Conversation With Jamel Shabazz

Open Air, the Gantt Center's monthly series of virtual studio visits and intimate conversations with contemporary Black artists joins master photographer Jamel Shabazz in June. As a Brooklyn insider, Shabazz gained full access and captured New York's street life and burgeoning hip-hop culture unfiltered. Curator Dexter Wimberly will lead this Open Air conversation as we explore Shabazz's passion and perspective on building community through photography.

How To Participate

This free virtual program will be streamed on the Gantt Center's official YouTube channel.

Jamel Shabazz is best known for his iconic photographs of New York City during the 1980’s. He has authored 10 monographs, and contributed to over three dozen other photography related books. His photographs have been exhibited worldwide and his work is housed within the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Fashion Institute of Technology, The Gordon Parks Foundation and the Getty Museum. Over the years, Shabazz has instructed young students at the Studio Museum in Harlem’s “Expanding the Walls” project, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture “Teen Curators” program, and the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. He is also the 2018 recipient of the Gordon Parks award for his commitment to documentary photography. Shabazz is a member of the photo collective Kamoinge. As an artist his goal is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture. Learn more about Jamel at jamelshabazz.com or @jamelshabazz.

Jamel Shabazz - Legendary Photographer- Honor & Dignity

Learn more: Why Jamel Shabazz Is New York's Most Vital Street Photographer

Artist's Work

Image credits: Knowledge is Power (Coney Island, Brooklyn), 1980, Jamel Shabazz

Visit the Gantt Center to see more of Shabazz's work in our current exhibition, Vision & Spirit: African American Art | Works From The Bank Of America Collection.

Dexter Wimberly is an independent curator who has organized exhibitions and programming in galleries and institutions around the world including The Third Line in Dubai, The Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, KOKI ARTS in Tokyo, The Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Wimberly’s exhibitions have been reviewed and featured in publications including The New York Times and Artforum, and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. He is the co-founder of the financial literacy platforms Art World Conference and Art World Learning. Wimberly is also a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art, and founder and director of the Hayama Artist Residency in Japan.

Learn more about Dexter Wimberly at dexterwimberly.com.