Seconds of My Life.
Photographs by Jamel Shabazz. Text by Lauri Lyons.
powerHouse Books, New York, 2007. 256 pp., 250 four-color illustrations, 8x10¾".
At age nine, Jamel Shabazz was introduced to photography by his father, who kept a signed copy of Leonard Freed’s BLACK IN WHITE AMERICA on the family’s coffee table. Intrigued by Freed’s provocative images of both Southern and urban life, Shabazz knew then it was his calling to document his community and the people who gave it life.
Photography has given Shabazz a sense of purpose, allowing him to connect with the people he encounters on a daily basis. By connecting with his subjects, complimenting their style, and recognizing their potential—and then in turn publishing these images for the world at large to celebrate—in a small but meaningful way Shabazz has been able to counteract the damage society can wreak on self-esteem.
SECONDS OF MY LIFE, Shabazz’s fourth powerHouse book, delves deeply into the artist’s archives, going back over 25 years and spanning the globe in its representation of human life. Whether in the hills of Jamaica or the shantytowns of Brazil, among the immigrants of France or the Buddhist monks of Bangkok, Shabazz seeks out strong personalities from all races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, sexualities, and class backgrounds. Shabazz appreciates the poise and confidence of people in all their luminous variety.
Featuring photographs of Dave Chappelle, GrandMaster Flash, The Roots, Sweet Back, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, Russell Simmons, Jill Scott, Roy Ayers, Pete Rock, Jacob the Jeweler, and Grover Washington, Jr., famed fraternities Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Delta Sigma Theta, and Zeta Phi Beta, members of the Nation of Islam, Freemasons, Shriners, Bloods, Crips, cops, and city workers, as well as parades and anti-war protests, SECONDS OF MY LIFE is an unstoppable tour de force.
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