Ozier Muhammad
01. Campaign Workers for Falae: Nigerian boys in makeup with the African Peoples Party (AFP) letters painted on their skin. The APP challenger Olu Falae lost the election of the presidency of Nigeria to Olusegon Obasanjo, 1999.
02. Drums and Trumpet on Wall Street: Members of the Occupy Wall Street Movement marched from Zucotti Park to the New York Stock Exchange at the end of the trading day, Sept. 2011.
03. Cole Park Basketball: Young men playing pickup basketball in Martin Luther King Jr. Park on the Southside of Chicago, 1970.
04. Boy bends notes on a broken trombone: more than a hundred followers of Daddy Grace gather in Central Harlem for an annual August street baptism, organized by the United House of Prayer, 1994.
05. Can’t Help but Ride The Spirit: An usher at the United House of Prayer surrenders to the sound of the gospel in Harlem, New York, 1994.
06. Former Addict Sings Gospel: At a methadone clinic in a Chicago neighborhood, former addicts meet twice weekly for group sessions with therapy counselors. This woman offered the gospel song Precious Lord to the assembled, 1972.
07. Fruit of Islam Confronts Gang Violence: Before breaking up into small groups, this gathering of Muslims from the Nation of Islam receive instructions before talking to young people in this public housing community in Chicago.
08. Minister Conrad Muhammad in White: Minister Conrad Muhammad of Temple #7 Nation of Islam speaks to officers in his security corps before an event at the Harlem Armory, 1993.
09. Mandela Inaugurated: Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk shake hands at the presidential inauguration of Mr. Mandela in Pretoria, South Africa, 1994.
10. Township campaign rally for Mandela: A Presidential campaign rally for Nelson Mandela in Pretoria, South Africa, 1994.
11. Nelson Mandela Votes: Nelson Mandela made a symbolic gesture by voting in a Zulu township in Durban, South Africa. Mr. Mandela’s ethnic origin is Khosa, which has been an ethnic rival of the Zulu nation for decades, 1994.
12. South Africa’s New Army: For the first time, blacks are now equals to white soldiers in the South African Defense Forces. This was a military training site in Central South Africa, 1994.
13. Women’s Auxiliary Listening to Mandela: A lady's auxiliary listens attentively and takes notes as Nelson Mandela gives a campaign speech at this church in Pretoria, South Africa.
14. July 18th is Nelson Mandela Day Worldwide: The entire student body at Holy Cross Anglican school joined in singing the Happy Birthday song to Nelson Mandela, who turned 95 years old today, Soweto Township, South Africa, July 18, 2013.
15. July 18th is Nelson Mandela Day Worldwide: Mr. Mandela turned 95 years old today. More than 100 senior citizens gathered at the Nelson Mandela Heritage Site to celebrate Mandela Day. Food and music was provided by a non-profit organization called Tshedbedisano Support Network in the Alexandra Township, South Africa. Towards the end of this celebration, a brass band arrived and provided free entertainment. It fit the theme of volunteerism in this nation and throughout the world in recognition to the sacrifices Mr. Mandela and others made to bring an end to apartheid, July 18, 2013.
16. Church Boy: A boy stands on the corner of 125th Street and Adam Clayton Jr. Boulevard a moment before he crossed on his way to church at the United House of Prayer For All People, June 1994.
17. Blown Headlines: High winds blow loose newspaper pages around 125th street in Harlem near the IRT Subway entrance as some people make their way to work that morning, 2006.
18. Muhammad Speaks After Hours: A member of the National of Islam sells the Final Call, also known in the later part of the 20th Century as Muhammad Speaks, in the late evening on 125th Street, Harlem, New York, 1994.
19. Ethiopian Girl Clutches Biscuit: an Ethiopian girl clutches a biscuit as she is weighed in a tent where a medical team from Doctors Without Borders were providing care, 1984.
20. Faces In Emergency Camp: Children as they were being fed by the surviving parent, or parents, in a dislocation camp in Ethiopia.
21. Child, Flies and Mother: A woman oblivious to the flies plaguing her child, waits to see a doctor at a hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
22. A Week of Provisions: A man holds a week of provisions provided by one of the non-governmental organizations that responded to the famine crisis in Ethiopia, 1984.
23. OWS March in Downtown Manhattan: Occupy Wall Street demonstrators march down Broadway in Lower Manhattan, 2011.
24. OWS Hold Demonstration: Occupy Wall Street demonstrators gathered in Foley Square near the jail known as the Tombs in Lower Manhattan demanding the release of demonstrators who had been recently arrested while marching on the Brooklyn Bridge, Oct. 2011.
25. New York Police Department Senior Officers Helped to Make Arrests: More than 700 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators were arrested when they defied an order not to march in the roadways of the Brooklyn Bridge, 2011.
26. Dancing Harry: This man known as Dancing Harry was a fixture near the Apollo Theater in Harlem in the 1990’s. He would put a board on the ground, and slide, and make his moves to the music of soul singer James Brown, and collect substantial tips in a coffee can, 1994.
27. Dancing Harry: This man known as Dancing Harry was a fixture near the Apollo Theater in Harlem in the 1990’s. He would put a board on the ground, and slide, and make his moves to the music of soul singer James Brown, and collect substantial tips in a coffee can, 1994.
28. Dancing Harry: This man known as Dancing Harry was a fixture near the Apollo Theater in Harlem in the 1990’s. He would put a board on the ground, and slide, and make his moves to the music of soul singer James Brown, and collect substantial tips in a coffee can, 1994.
29. Obama on the Hustings: Senator Barack Obama on the campaign trail in pursuit of the President of the United States, June 2008.
30. U.S. Senator Barack Obama while on the campaign trail.
31. Barack Obama is greeted by Jill Biden, former presidents, members of the senate and the congress as the ceremony gets underway in which Mr. Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office, 2009.
32. EARTHQUAKE ORPHANS: Orphans of the January 12th earthquake are gathered in a field next to Lycee Jacques, a primary school. They are under the care of FRADES, a grass roots organization which is providing foster care, Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti, 2010.
33. EARTHQUAKE ORPHANS: Orphans of the January 12th earthquake are gathered in a field next to Lycee Jacques, a primary school. They are under the care of FRADES, a grass roots organization which is providing foster care, Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti, 2010.
34. EARTHQUAKE ORPHANS: Orphans of the January 12th earthquake are gathered in a field next to Lycee Jacques, a primary school. They are under the care of FRADES, a grass roots organization which is providing foster care, Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti, 2010.
35. EARTHQUAKE ORPHANS: Orphans of the January 12th earthquake are gathered in a field next to Lycee Jacques, a primary school. They are under the care of FRADES, a grass roots organization which is providing foster care, Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti, 2010.
36. At the funeral of 1st Sgt. Charles M. King in Ohio: Former journalist, editor and now book publisher, Dana Candy, holds her child Jordan, at the funeral of his father, 1st Sergeant Charles M. King, who was killed October 14th, 2006 in Iraq. Also in the photograph is the daughter of King and his parents, 2006.
37. Emotions Rise at Levee Wall: On the Memorial Day holiday scores of people came to the Industrial Canal’s Levee in New Orleans to remember the people who died here when Hurricane Katrina’s arrival caused it to breech, May 5, 2005.
38. Citizen Ceremony For Dead Soldiers and Others in Harlem: Maria Alcántara, center, and her daughter Fredelinda Peña, in striped sweater, took the citizenship oath for Ms. Alcántara’s son, Cpl. Juan Alcántara, who died in Iraq, 2007.
Keith de Lellis Gallery is honored to present the photography of Ozier Muhammad in the artist’s first one man exhibition in New York. Ozier Muhammad (b. 1950) is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist from Chicago who has documented the cultural events of black citizens across the world for over four decades. Our exhibition showcases Muhammad’s dedication to utilizing photography as a truth telling medium that explores racial issues throughout society and sheds light on the daily joys and strife of the African and African American communities.
Muhammad is the grandson of Nation of Islam Founder Elijah Muhammad who mentored popular figures of the civil rights movement including Malcom X and Muhammad Ali. During Muhammad’s childhood he was surrounded by other influential figures such as Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava. Parks was the first African American photographer for Life magazine and DeCarava is one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century. Seeing photographs by Parks and DeCarava peaked Muhammad’s interest and inspired him to pursue a career in photojournalism.
Muhammad began his career in Chicago in the early 1970’s as a staff photographer at Jet and Ebony magazines. Both publications were devoted to telling the intricate stories of African Americans that were not covered in white- owned magazines. He began traveling to Africa in 1974 to report on the end of colonialism. In 1984 while working for Newsday, his involvement in a report “Africa, The Desperate Continent” earned him a joint Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Muhammad’s work has won other prestigious awards and fellowships. In 1994 he documented Nelson Mandela’s historic presidential win to become the first non-white president of South Africa. In 1992 Muhammad became a staff photographer for The New York Times where he went on to cover President Obama’s revolutionary journey of becoming the first African American president of the United States in 2008. Muhammad’s work captures the incredibly empowering moments in black history and serves as an influential voice for his community.
Muhammad’s body of work, from Harlem to Kenya, is not too dissimilar from that of a cultural anthropologist. Throughout his career Muhammad has taken an honest look at the world around him while recording moments in history. His work has brought awareness to the hardships and triumphs that have been, and continue to be, experienced by Africans and African Americans alike. A photograph taken during his travels to Ethiopia captures an exhausted mother waiting outside a dislocation camp in central Ethiopia ran by Doctors Without Borders. In another photograph from the same camp we see a severely malnourished Ethiopian girl whose fragile limbs dangle from a weighing scale while under the care of doctors. Muhammad’s work documents both the difficult and poignant experiences that represent what life is like for many black citizens around the world. Included in the exhibition is a photograph of a young boy as he joyfully plays his broken trombone in the streets of Harlem while another photograph shows a formidable line of Nation of Islam men as they gather in a public housing project in Chicago to assist the residents in stopping gang violence. Whether documenting global events or everyday moments in Harlem, Muhammad is dedicated to photographing his community with honesty and compassion.
Muhammad’s work is in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Bank of America, Haverford College and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. This exhibition will be on view at Keith de Lellis Gallery through December 4, 2021.
