photo credit: Nema Etebar
Really thrilled to share this with you guys. I came to know of HYCIDE Magazine last year around the Festival of the New Black Imagination’s launch, when I asked for art submissions to be shared during the performance portion of the event. Some of the great images that I got were from HYCIDE’s founder Akintola Hanif and editor Fayemi Shakur. I’ve been following the magazine ever since.
HYCIDE Magazine, based in Newark, NJ, features photo essays and stories on the intersection between subculture, street life and social justice. It also spotlights emerging and established artists that often work outside the mainstream. According a recent press release:
Its fourth issue, which focuses on documentary portraiture, presents a range of international images, from the ghettos of San Juan to New Delhi. Acclaimed photographer Wayne Lawrence presents day trippers at Orchard Beach, “the Bronx Riviera,’’ while Joe Conzo shares the backstory of his definitive photos of hip-hop’s infancy. Henry Chalfant, a major force in graffiti art movement, remembers the earliest days of subway car tagging. There are also portraits of New Jersey gun owners in the wake of the “Dark Knight’’ shootings.
“The artists and photographers in this issue all share a similar mission: to reflect the beauty, creativity and diversity of people who are usually forgotten and cast aside,’’ says Akintola Hanif, HYCIDE’s editor-in-chief, himself an an acclaimed documentary portrait artist and film maker who, among other projects, has spent over a decade photographing east coast street gangs. “That doesn’t mean they ignore poverty, violence and suffering in their quest to negate stereotypes or that they are afraid to explore the lives of people who are often viewed as a threat. But they approach their subjects with respect and the sincere desire to create understanding.”
Other editors include fayemi shakur, a former contributor to Vibe and The Source magazines, and Carrie Stetler, a veteran Newark Star-Ledger reporter and online editor. HYCIDE’s creative director is legendary street photographer, Jamel Shabazz, author of “Back in the Days,’’ whose work is also included in the anniversary issue. Contributing editor Michael A. Gonzales has written for the Village Voice, New York magazine and the London Telegraph, as well as Bold As Love Magazine.
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