Jamel Shabazz

Jamel Shabazz was born in Brooklyn in 1960 and has photographed his native New York City since the 1970s. Picking up a camera as a teenager, he began documenting the style, pride and joy of the young people around him, and became known for the warm, respectful street portraits that would later fill his celebrated book Back in the Days.

For more than four decades Shabazz has focused on the human connection photography can create, capturing life on the streets and in the subway with an eye for community, dignity and resilience. His work is held in museum collections and has been widely exhibited and published.

He was honoured with the 2023 Lucie Award for Documentary. City Metro: Photos from 1980–2020, presented at House of Lucie Athens as part of the Athens Photo Festival satellite program, brings together iconic and previously unseen pictures from New York's streets and subways.