Dennis Morris is a British photographer, best known for his images of Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols. [1] [2]
Dennis Morris is a British photographer, best known for his images of Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols. [1] [2]
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In 1974 Morris, then at school in London, heard that Bob Marley was playing at the Speakeasy Club in Great Marlborough Street, London. He went to the club during the day, met Marley and asked to take his picture. Marley agreed, and after hearing that Morris wanted to be a photographer told him “You are a photographer”. The following day Morris left with the band in their Transit van. He went on to photograph the musician until Marley's death in 1981. [3]
After being approached by John Lydon personally, after their signing to Virgin Records, In May 1977 Morris spent a year with the Sex Pistols, documenting them in depth. [4] [5] [6] In 1978 Morris went with Virgin boss Richard Branson on a talent-spotting trip to Jamaica. Morris persuaded Virgin that John Lydon should accompany them. [7]
Morris describes his style as "reportage", citing as influences Robert Capa and Don McCullin. He used a Leica camera, finding that its small size meant that "you can take it anywhere, and no one takes it seriously. So you get them to open up." [5]
In 1979 Morris created the logo for the band Public Image Limited and the innovative Metal Box album packaging. [8] He then became art director of Island Records [9] and designed album covers for Linton Kwesi Johnson, Marianne Faithfull (Broken English) and Bob Marley.
In mid-1979 Morris replaced Don Letts as vocalist of Basement 5, a reggae punk fusion band. He created their logo, image, photography and graphics and gained a recording contract with Island Records. Their albums, 1965–1980 and Basement in Dub, were produced by Martin Hannett in 1980 [10] and re-released by the PIAS label in 2017. [11]
In 2000 Morris travelled to the Philippines to photograph the crucifixion of artist Sebastian Horsley. [12] In 2002, to mark the 40th anniversary of Jamaican independence, Morris was commissioned by BBC 2 to document reggae superstars, Jamaican street culture and the energy of the dancehall for the award-winning TV series and accompanying book Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music. [13] [14]
In June 2005 the Spectrum London gallery had a show of photographs by Morris documenting the daily lives, ceremonies and rituals of the Mowanjum Community of Indigenous Australians. [15] The gallery was blessed by tribe leader Francis Firebrace, wearing body paint and tribal dress. [15]
Morris was commissioned to show a new body of work at the Today Art Museum in Beijing in 2008 to coincide with the Olympic Cultural programme. [16]
A large installation of his punk images (part of the I am a cliché, Echoes of the Punk Aesthetic exhibition curated by Emma Lavigne) was shown at the 41st Rencontres d'Arles (France) during the summer of 2010. [17]
In 2013 Morris collaborated with Shepard Fairey on a body of work titled S.I.D (Superman Is Dead), culminating in an exhibition at Subliminal Projects (LA- USA). [18] [19]
In April 2014 he exhibited a large collection of his Bob Marley photographs at the Known Gallery in Los Angeles. [20] [21]
In early 2016 BBC 4 made a documentary on his work as part of their ongoing series What do artists do all day? [22]
In 2016 the Institute of Contemporary Arts presented an exhibition of his design, marketing, art direction and photography of Public Image Ltd. [23]
In 2018, nowness made a short film of Dennis Morris in Tokyo for their "Photographers in Focus" series [24]
In 2023, he exhibited a series of work titled "Colored Black" at Kyotographie International Photography Festival in Japan. [25]
Some of his photos from his Growing Up Black collection are part of the Tate Britain collection and were displayed in an exhibition titled Stan Firm inna Inglan from November 2016 to November 2017. [26] [27]
His photographs have appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, Time, People, V, GQ, I-D, Vogue, "Frieze magazine" [28] and the Sunday Times.[ citation needed ]
He has held exhibitions worldwide (Sydney Opera House,[ citation needed ] Laforet Museum, Tokyo, [29] Contact Toronto and in galleries in London, New York, Paris,[ citation needed ] San Francisco,[ citation needed ] and Stuttgart).[ citation needed ]
His photographs have become highly collectable,[ citation needed ]; one body of work, Southall – a home from home, was bought with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund, [30] and is held in the archives of Gunnersbury Park Museum in London. [31] "Growing Up Black", a collection of his photographs of the black community in Hackney is part of the permanent collection of the Hackney Museum. [32] The Victoria and Albert Museum has also acquired some photographs from this series. [33]
Morris' work has been used in books such as Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century by Greil Marcus Century by Bruce Bernard, Punk by Steven Colgrave and Chris Sullivan, and Rolling Stone: The Complete Covers 1967–1997. He has been the subject of documentaries and television programmes in the UK and US.[ citation needed ]
Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world.
Robert Capa was a Hungarian–American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.
Wolfgang Tillmans is a German photographer. His diverse body of work is distinguished by observation of his surroundings and an ongoing investigation of the photographic medium’s foundations.
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Nicholas David Gordon Knight is a British fashion photographer and founder and director of SHOWstudio.com. He is an honorary professor at University of the Arts London and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. by the same university. He has produced books of his work including retrospectives Nicknight (1994) and Nick Knight (2009). In 2016, Knight's 1992 campaign photograph for fashion brand Jil Sander was sold by Phillips auction house at the record-breaking price of HKD 2,360,000.
Sir Donald McCullin is a British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.
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Ronald "Charlie" Phillips, also known by the nickname "Smokey", is a Jamaican-born restaurateur, photographer, and documenter of black London. He is now best known for his photographs of Notting Hill during the period of West Indian migration to London; however, his subject matter has also included film stars and student protests, with his photographs having appeared in Stern, Harper’s Bazaar, Life and Vogue and in Italian and Swiss journals. Notable recent shows by Phillips include How Great Thou Art, "a sensitive photographic documentary of the social and emotional traditions that surround death in London's African Caribbean community".
Graham Stuart Ovenden was an English painter, fine art photographer and writer.
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New Wave is a notable punk/new wave/proto-punk compilation album released in 1977 on Vertigo Records. It introduced many US new wave artists to the UK market and helped establish the term "new wave". The album was compiled by Alan Cowderoy for Phonogram Ltd. (London) and most of the artists were on Phonogram subsidiary labels, making it essentially a sampler album. The album credits give thanks to Linda and Seymour Stein from Sire Records and Jake Riviera and Kosmo Vinyl from Stiff Records. Music critic Ira Robbins rated it one of his top ten albums of 1977.
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