‘New York Vibes’ brings together more than 60 photographs that trace community, hip-hop culture, and the complexities of African American life across New York in the 1980s and 1990s.
27 August 2026
For Jamel Shabazz, the streets of New York have long been both subject and studio. Since the early 1980s, the American photographer has documented everyday encounters across Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, creating an intimate visual archive of Black life shaped by style, friendship, family and neighbourhood.
‘Jamel Shabazz. New York Vibes’ brings together more than 60 photographs, marking the first comprehensive presentation of Shabazz’s work in Germany. His portraits capture young people with striking self-possession, dressed in the fashions of an emerging hip-hop culture and meeting the photographer’s gaze with confidence. Shabazz photographs from within these communities, allowing familiarity and trust to shape the encounter.
Yet the exhibition also moves beyond the energy of the street. Images made inside prisons reveal another side of the city, confronting racial inequality, marginalisation and the consequences of mass incarceration while maintaining the dignity of those pictured. Together, these photographs offer a layered portrait of freedom and constraint, joy and injustice, individuality and belonging.
This exhibition is on view at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation until 17 January 2027.
