Jamel Shabazz
New York Vibes

Since the early 1980s, American photographer Jamel Shabazz (b. 1960) has been using his camera to document scenes of everyday life in the predominantly African-American neighbourhood in his hometown New York. On his walks through Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn he has taken countless portraits that are now icons of their era. Shabazz made the streets his studio, capturing the exuberant creativity of the young generation in vibrant images. The fact that he was perceived not as a distant observer but as someone from the same social reality as his subjects is apparent in the intimate atmosphere of his individual and group portraits: Full of self-confidence, Black women, men, and children gaze into the camera and boldly present their stylish outfits and cool moves.

As a child, Shabazz discovered the world of photography through family albums, magazines, and books that revealed to him the importance and diversity of the medium. In his teenage years, he created early portraits of his friends with his first camera. In 1980, after serving in the US Army for three years in West Germany, he began to systematically capture his daily encounters on the street, in parks, and on the subway. His photographs document the birth of hip-hop culture as well as the importance of friendship, family, and neighbourhood. They were created at a time when life in New York was also affected by the consequences of economic decline, racial inequality, the crack epidemic and mass incarceration. Shabazz experienced the impact this had on the Black population firsthand. For more than twenty years, he worked as a correction officer in institutions such as Rikers Island, one of the largest jails in the United States that houses mainly pretrial detainees awaiting court appearances, most of whom are poor, and more than half of whom suffer from mental illness.  

While his photographs in public space convey a sense of freedom, belonging, and youthful energy, his pictures taken in prisons shed light on the futility, marginalisation, and often devastating consequences of social inequality. In these works, too, Shabazz exhibits the same receptiveness and, without depriving them of their dignity, shows people whose biographies are marked by disruptions.

Featuring over 60 photographs, this exhibition is the first in Germany to offer a comprehensive insight into Shabazz’s multifaceted perspectives on African American life in New York in the 1980s and 1990s. The show brings together photographs of exuberant moments of urban youth culture as well as introspective images of a repressive institutional structure, raising fundamental questions about identity, community, and justice.

“Jamel Shabazz. New York Vibes” was realised in collaboration with the Galerie Bene Taschen and is on view until 17 January 2027. The exhibition was curated by Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation. Visits are possible as part of regular guided tours or during the “Open Saturdays” on 31 October 2026 and 16 January 2027.