{"id":487486,"date":"2025-10-10T05:06:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487486\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T05:06:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:06:23","slug":"for-45-years-jamel-shabazz-photographed-the-joyful-refuge-of-prospect-park-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487486\/","title":{"rendered":"For 45 Years, Jamel Shabazz Photographed the Joyful Refuge of Prospect Park \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cStreet photography is a way of life,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moma.org\/magazine\/articles\/1148\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jamel Shabazz says<\/a>, a sentiment he\u2019s embodied and shared with the public for the past half century. The legendary photographer is best known for documenting the style, culture, and political landscape of his native Brooklyn from the 1980s onward, part of which is now collected in a new book published by Prestel.<\/p>\n<p>Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025 contains 120 color and black-and-white images captured within the urban enclave. At 585 acres, the public park offers a vast area for gathering, exercising, and engaging with nature, and for Shabazz, it\u2019s always been a refuge from life\u2019s realities.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1240\" height=\"724\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-7.jpg\" alt=\"a photo by Jamel Shabbaz of two women posing with their backs together\" class=\"wp-image-463561\"  \/>Prospect Park, 1995, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p>He began taking the photos in this collection after returning to New York following a 36-month service in the U.S. Army and while he worked for the Department of Corrections at the notorious Riker\u2019s Island facility. For Shabazz, Prospect Park became a site of joy and community and a small escape from these everyday horrors.<\/p>\n<p>Included in the monograph are several portraits that show what a fixture the photographer has been in the park. Warm, easy smiles and confident poses abound, and while the popular fashions and technology may change, so much of life depicted stays the same. The images glimpse how vital the outdoor space has remained over the years, as several generations climb trees, gather to look out over one of the lakes, or simply find joy in each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n<p>Find more of Shabazz\u2019s archive on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamelshabazz\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, and pick up a copy of Prospect Park on <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/96\/9783791393773\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bookshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1512\" height=\"2289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-12.jpg\" alt=\"two teen girls pose for Jamel Shabazz\" class=\"wp-image-463566\"  \/>Prospect Park, 1981, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1982\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-11.jpg\" alt=\"a photo by Jamel Shabbaz of a man through autumn leaves\" class=\"wp-image-463565\"  \/>Jamel Shabazz\u2019s father at Prospect Park, 1990, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-8.jpg\" alt=\"a man in a tree with a book while a child stands below in a photo by Jamel Shabazz\" class=\"wp-image-463562\"  \/>Prospect Park, 2010, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-6.jpg\" alt=\"a photo by Jamel Shabbaz of two boys sitting on a log\" class=\"wp-image-463560\"  \/>Prospect Park, 2014, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1695\" height=\"1089\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-5.jpg\" alt=\"a photo by Jamel Shabbaz of a group of women sitting on a bench\" class=\"wp-image-463559\"  \/>Prospect Park, 1982, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1660\" height=\"2364\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-4.jpg\" alt=\"a portrait by Jamel Shabbaz of a man in army fatigues and a fur hat\" class=\"wp-image-463558\"  \/>Prospect Park, 2012, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2874\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-3.jpg\" alt=\"a photo by Jamel Shabazz of a man holding a Jamaican flag\" class=\"wp-image-463557\"  \/>Prospect Park, 2012, \u00a9 Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2383\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-2.jpg\" alt=\"a black and white portrait of Jamel Shabbaz with his camera\" class=\"wp-image-463556\"  \/>Jamel Shabazz, \u00a9 Michael McCoy, 2016<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2461\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shabbaz-10.jpg\" alt=\"the cover of Prospect Park by Jamel Shabbaz\" class=\"wp-image-463564\"  \/>Image \u00a9 Prestel \/ Jamel Shabazz, 2025<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do stories and artists like this matter to you?<\/strong> Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"118516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hide advertising<\/li>\n<li>Save your favorite articles<\/li>\n<li>Get 15% off in the <a href=\"https:\/\/colossal.shop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colossal Shop<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Receive members-only newsletter<\/li>\n<li>Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cStreet photography is a way of life,\u201d Jamel Shabazz says, a sentiment he\u2019s embodied and shared with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,27054,4022,77,161126,27484,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-487486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-jamel-shabazz","14":"tag-street-photography","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115348136884912649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}