POTW: Jamel Shabazz's Portrait of Louis Reyes Rivera

For this Photo of the Week, we are highlighting the work of Jamel Shabazz, a Brooklyn photographer who picked up his first camera at the age of fifteen. Shabazz says his goal is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture. While having incredible range, Shabazz is often most known for documenting the people of Red Hook, Brownsville, Flatbush, Fort Green, Harlem, the Lower East Side and Bronx's Grand Concourse. His portraits, which are currently on view until September 4th at The Bronx Museum of the Arts' Jamel Shabazz: Eyes on the Street exhibit, are a joyful reminder of the New Yorker's vibrancy. 

This portrait is of Louis Reyes Rivera, a Puerto Rican, Brooklyn-born poet. Rivera also defined himself as an essayist, editor, teacher, radio host, and union organizer. He earned his BA from City College and went on to publish five poetry collections. Scattered Scripture which was published in 1996 went on to win the Poetry Award from the Latin American Writers Institute. He considered his work a "translation" to act, "as a bridge between the various elements of the underclass." He also called himself the "Janitor of History." Rivera died in 2014.

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.