Artist Statement
My photographs show youth on the edge: young people embracing life in a world of menace and danger. My work concerns peril and sensuality.Chaos and joy. Life amidst death. My photos concern sexuality, violence, love, hope, despair, neglect, and transcendence.
I try to convey pure emotion in the pictures. My goal is to capture private, inner moments where things are ambiguous, less rational. Though seemingly based on reality, my pictures are increasingly about dreams.
Stephen Shames is author of seven monographs: Outside the Dream, Pursuing the Dream, The Black Panthers (Aperture), Bronx Boys e-book, (FotoEvidence) Facing Race (Moravian College), Transforming Lives (Star Bright Books), and Free to Grow (Columbia University). The University of Texas Press is publishing Bronx Boys as a physical book in 2014. Abrams will publish a new Black Panther monograph in 2016 - the 50th anniversary of the founding of the party.
Steve is represented by the represented by Steven Kasher Gallery in New York City. His two solo shows at the Steven Kasher Gallery were reviewed by The New Yorker and the New York Times. American Photo named Steve one of the 15 Most Underrated Photographers. PBS named Hine, Wolcott, and Shames as photographers whose work promotes social change.
Steve's work is in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery; International Center of Photography; The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley; The Corcoran Gallery of Art; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; San Jose Art Museum; Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Ford Foundation; Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Baruch College; Oakland Museum; University Art Museum, Berkeley, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Elton John Foundation; and the Honickman Foundation.
Steve received Kodak Crystal Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism for his book Outside the Dream. Steve's 2008 bus shelter and subway ads for the NYC DADS campaign of the City of New York received a Pollie award (silver) from American Association of Political Consultants. He was named a Purpose Prize Fellow in 2010 for his work with AIDS orphans and former child soldiers. The Prize recognizes social innovators in their encore careers.
Steve has been profiled by People Magazine, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning. Esquire, US News, Glass, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Time.Ford Foundation Report, and Photo District News.
Fellowships and Grants:
Purpose Prize Fellow (2010), Annie E. Casey Foundation (2001), EZ / EC Foundation Consortium (1999), The Ford Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Eastman Kodak, Canon USA, Leica, and Pennsylvania Council of the Arts (1994-96), NPPA - Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant (1992), Homeless in America Photographic Project (1987), Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship (1985).
Awards (selected):
Kodak Crystal Eagle, Pollie, World Hunger Year, World Press, Leica Medal of Excellence, Luis Valtuña Humanitarian, International Center of Photography (Special Recognition), Robert F. Kennedy Journalism (2nd & 3rd), New York Art Director's Club (Gold), Communication Arts, Society of Newspaper Design.
Shames wrote, directed, or produced a dozen short videos including Friends of the Children, Building Fences, and A Better Education.
How to use our image viewer
Click on any of the thumbnail images to launch the viewer. You can then navigate forward and backward within the portfolio by clicking the left or right side of the enlarged image. Click the add to collection checkbox to automatically add an image to your collection. Image tags or search engine keywords appear below the collections' checkbox and each word or phrase is a link to potentially more image matches.