Stephen Shames USA, b. 1947
Stephen Shames was the principal photographer of the Black Panther Party. He has used his art to raise awareness of social issues for over fifty years. His powerful images have highlighted issues of child poverty, race and equal rights. Shames’ work documented the Black Panther Party’s fight for equality led to some of the most iconic images in modern history. From his photographs of Angela Davis’ stirring speeches to Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale’s impassioned rallies, the world is a better place with the world his-tory Shames has documented. People often forget the Black Panthers supplied breakfasts to schoolchildren before the United States gov-ernment was feeding school children. They also started free medical clinics. They would chaperone senior citizens in order for them not to be robbed. They providing free clothing to those in need. The Panthers fos-tered a family spirit to bring about change and Shames’ lens immortalised so many of these moments.
In 2016 Stephen Shames and Bobby Seale published a striking book: Power to the People - The World of the Black Panthers. Published on the 50th anniversary of the party!s founding, Power to the People de-scribes the struggles and celebrates the achievements of the only radical political party in America to make a difference in the struggle for civil rights.Shames’ images also capture how pivotal women were to the Black Panther movement. In 2024 Shames had a solo museum exhibition at the Mougins Centre De La Photographie in France. The exhibition, as An-gela Davis emphasises, "Reminds us that women were literally at the heart of this new political approach to Black freedom".
From 1984 to 1989, Shames traveled across America photographing the lives of the one out of five children in the United States who live below the poverty line. Senator Bill Bradley spoke about Shames’ work saying: “Just as Walker Evans’ photographs helped America see the poverty of Appalachia, the vivid images…will open our hearts to the deprivation that today afflicts not a region, but an entire generation.”Shames also worked on documenting community solutions to child poverty in America. The work was pub-lished in 1997 as Pursuing the Dream: What Helps Children and Their Families Succeed. President Jimmy Carter wrote about the book: “Stephen Shames has captured the spirit of thousands of programs across our country that are quietly but stubbornly making the lives of children and families better in spite of the bleak circumstances in which they live. … This book can inspire all of us to seek out the many opportunities already available in their own communities to make a difference in the lives of others.”
Curator Maurice Berger wrote in the New York Times “Mr. Shames’s exacting photographs were in keep-ing with a movement that often disseminated its ideas through imagery.” During his nearly 60 years as a photographer, Shames photographed youth in urban ghettos, homeless kids sleeping in parks and beach-es in the United Staes, and street kids, child laborers, and soldiers who lived by their wits on the streets of Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America. Shames pictured many of society’s outcasts but his photos are not only images of victims; his photos are also about inner strength and hope. Shames’ work is held in the permanent collections of museums world wide including MoMa, the Met-ropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, National Portrait Gallery, Wash-ington D.C. and countless others.
