Galerie Sophie Scheidecker presents a monographic exhibition by African-American photo-journalist Ozier Muhammad.
Born in Chicago in 1950, Ozier Muhammad is the grandson of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam and mentor of Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, central figures in the African-American civil rights movement.
Ozier Muhammad has been interested in photo-journalism since his adolescence, marked in particular by the reportages of Gordon Parks for Life magazine.
The African-American photographer began his career in the early 1970s and traveled to Africa to cover the end of colonialism. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 with his reportage Africa, The Desperate Continent. In 1992, he became a photo-reporter for the New York Times.
For four decades, Ozier Muhammad covered the international news of black populations. He uses photography as a medium to explore racial issues in society and to highlight the joys and conflicts, trials and successes of African and African-American communities. His work often has an anthropological character.
Whether illustrating international events or scenes of daily life in Harlem, the city where he lived for more than thirty years, Ozier Muhammad photographs his community by creating emotion through the authenticity of his visual testimony. He notably covered the election of Nelson Mandela in South Africa and the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. He also photographed natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana in 2005 or the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
Ozier Muhammad’s photographs are present in many American institutional collections including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Bank of America and The Haverford College.
Galerie Sophie Scheidecker invites you to discover the work of Ozier Muhammad through the series Haitians Children Orphaned After Earthquake and a selection of the artist’s emblematic photographs.
Ozier Muhammad
From January 28 to March 26, 2022
Galerie Sophie Scheidecker
14 bis, rue des Minimes
75 003 – Paris – France
www.galerie-sophiescheidecker.com
Virtual tour on www.artland.com
