For nearly half a century, renowned street photographer Jamel Shabazz has documented the vibrant life and enduring spirit of Brooklyn's Prospect Park, transforming the 585-acre urban oasis into a powerful visual narrative of community, joy, and resilience. His decades-long photographic journey through the park has now been collected in a comprehensive new book titled "Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025," published by Prestel, featuring 120 striking color and black-and-white images that span more than four decades.
Shabazz, who is best known for his iconic documentation of Brooklyn's style, culture, and political landscape from the 1980s onward, began this particular photographic project after returning to New York following a 36-month service in the U.S. Army. At the time, he was working for the Department of Corrections at the notorious Rikers Island facility, a challenging and often traumatic environment that made Prospect Park an essential refuge in his daily life. For Shabazz, the park became much more than a photographic subject – it represented a sanctuary of joy and community that provided a crucial escape from the harsh realities of his professional work.
"Street photography is a way of life," Shabazz explains, a philosophy he has embodied and shared with the public throughout his distinguished career. This approach is evident throughout the monograph, which showcases his unique ability to capture authentic moments of human connection and celebration within the park's natural setting. The collection reveals how Prospect Park has served as a consistent gathering place for multiple generations of Brooklynites, offering a vast area for recreation, exercise, and meaningful engagement with nature.
The photographs in the collection span from 1980 to 2025, creating a remarkable visual timeline that documents both continuity and change within the Brooklyn community. While fashions evolve and technology advances throughout the decades, the essential elements of human joy and connection remain constant. The images feature warm, genuine smiles and confident poses from park visitors, capturing everything from children climbing trees and families gathering beside the park's lakes to friends simply enjoying each other's company in the outdoor space.
Several portraits included in the monograph demonstrate just how much of a fixture Shabazz himself has become within the park community over the years. His presence and reputation have allowed him to capture intimate, unguarded moments that reveal the authentic spirit of the people who call Prospect Park their neighborhood retreat. The collection includes personal touches as well, featuring a notable photograph of Shabazz's own father taken in Prospect Park in 1990, adding a deeply personal dimension to the broader community narrative.
The book serves as both a celebration of urban green space and a testament to the enduring importance of community gathering places in city life. Through Shabazz's lens, Prospect Park emerges not just as a recreational facility, but as a vital social institution that has remained consistently important across generations. The photographs demonstrate how the park has provided a space for cultural expression, family bonding, and community building throughout significant social and economic changes in Brooklyn.
Fans of Shabazz's work can explore more of his extensive photographic archive on his Instagram account, while the complete "Prospect Park" collection is available for purchase through Bookshop. The publication represents a significant addition to the documentation of Brooklyn's cultural history and stands as a powerful example of how long-term photographic projects can reveal the deeper truths about community, place, and the human experience in urban environments.
