Jazz Photography

Patti Labelle

JAM the work of photographer Cay Fatima and about nine guest photographers that include Bernard James, Lu Figgs, Sherry Rayn Barnette, Ronnie Wright, Kwame Brathwaithe, Salimah Ali, Everett James and Harold Rhynie who also have a passion for performing and musical arts photography . Jazz And Music is an extrapolation of a larger exhibit “People, Places, Politics”, but JAM only features musical visual themes. The WBGO exhibit featured musical talent such as Buddy Guy, Freddie Hubbard , Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis , Nina Simone , Tupac Shakur , Dizzy Gillespie, Aretha Franklin and the Staple Singers.

"It was hard to select about 50 photos from the greater collection," says Fatima . "I have a hard time choosing, so some exhibitions may not show the same pieces all the time. The hardest to choose is the musician and I am adding to the collection all the time. As people, places politics and music change, I hope to continue in this mode to document with photography the transformations, while continuing to explore other forms of audio-visual expression."

The 2010 installation was on display at WGBO for two months and then Harlem was the next stop on the tour schedule. This exhibit features new portraits of Kirk Whalum and Gerald Albright as well as some never exhibited before in this collection.

“The New Jersey community has been very positively responsive to my talents as a photographer and musician.” “Exhibiting on a local level gives me as an artist the ability to be in-touch with the everyday person, who has just as much pizzazz as some of the celebrities I have photographed,” says Fatima .

First, a student of psychology and political science at Boston University , Cay dropped out with a restless determination to be a visual and performing artist. Ms. Fatima , shortly thereafter, transferred and graduated from SUNY-College at Old Westbury as the first multi-media major, studying music, theater, dance, visual and graphic arts. After graduating from Old Westbury, Ms. Fatima continued her studies at the Institute For New Cinema Artists, a film, television, recording arts and sciences school run by actor Ossie Davis . Over the course of her career, Cay has also studied privately with still life photographer Herb Robinson, studio photographer Eugene Adams and the late Lu Figgs, as well as the late Amsterdam News photo editor, Tex Harris and wildlife/travel/nature photographer Ted Whiting . In between her work as a jazz musician, Cay stays busy as a photo-journalist/multimedia specialist with Entertainment Media News Services. Look for a new spoken word recording project, as well as lectures, demonstrations and workshops.