A Time Before Crack: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This color photograph shows two men and a woman in the Downtown section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1983. The man in the middle sits upon a Yamaha motorcycle with a Boombox on his lap. The woman on the right leans against the man. All three wear 1980s fashion. The recto of the photograph is inscribed with the title and photographer Jamel Shabazz’s signature.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1983; printed 2010
• Photograph by: Jamel Shabazz, American, born 1960
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Printed by: Sunshine Color Lab, American
• Type: chromogenic color prints
• Type: portraits
• Type: digital prints
• Medium: dye and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 13 11/16 × 9 9/16 in. (34.8 × 24.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
• Place depicted: Downtown, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2014.84.11
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Jamel Shabazz
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Jamel Shabazz Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.