For the first time in the United Kingdom, the radical vision and personal moments of the Black Panther Party are being showcased through the powerful lens of Stephen Shames at Amar Gallery, London. Running from 29 May to 6 July 2025, Black Panthers & Revolution: Stephen Shames is not just an exhibition—it’s a visceral window into the soul of a movement.
Shames, a young photographer at the University of California, Berkeley in the late 1960s, captured the rise of the Black Panthers from the inside. His images, now held in permanent collections of over 40 prestigious institutions including MoMA and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, remain some of the most intimate visual records of Black radical activism in America.
“I became the photographer who was closest to the Black Panthers of anybody,” Shames explains. “I actually have the largest archive of Panther pictures in the world.”
This is not hyperbole. Shames met co-founder Bobby Seale in 1967, and a bond quickly formed. “Bobby became a mentor, kind of a second dad to me, and brought me into the party,” he says. “At that time, there were only maybe about 20 Panthers in the whole world.”
This early access allowed Shames to document what others couldn’t. “Anyone could go to the rallies, but not everyone could go into the Panther office, the homes, the school they set up for their kids,” he continues talking to ALT A REVIEW. “That’s what’s unique about this collection.”
The Amar Gallery show includes portraits of civil rights titans—Huey Newton, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, and even Martin Luther King Jr.—but it’s the everyday humanity in the photos that resonates most deeply. In one memorable image, Seale and Newton burst into laughter mid-portrait. “I think that picture’s really important,” Shames reflects. “Because people think of revolutionaries as always angry. But the Panthers were people like us.”
That emphasis on shared humanity underpins the exhibition. According to Amar Gallery’s mission, this show “serves as a reminder that equality has been a struggle for millions, often suppressed due to race, gender or sexuality.” Director Amar Singh, known for supporting overlooked artists and activists, described the collaboration as “a necessary moment of reflection and recognition.”
Bobby Seale signed Copyright Stephen Shames courtesy of the AMAR GALLERY.
When asked if he ever felt in danger covering the movement, Shames surprises. “For the Panthers, there were no challenges at the rallies. The police pretty much left them alone. They later attacked the offices in the middle of the night, but I wasn’t sleeping at the offices,” he notes with a touch of wry humour.
More than just a visual archive, Shames’ work is testimony to a revolutionary spirit grounded not just in Black liberation, but in coalition-building and economic justice. As Bobby Seale once said, “They came down on us because we had grassroots, real people’s revolution… where we crossed racial lines.”
That ethos is clear in Shames’ photography. His lens does not simply observe; it bears witness, empathizes, and honors the people who dared to dream out loud.
“This is actually the first Black Panther exhibit of mine in the UK,” Shames says. “I was really happy that Amar Singh contacted me and asked if we could do an exhibit together. I was delighted.”
And audiences in London will be too.
Exhibition Info
🖼️ Black Panthers & Revolution: Stephen Shames
📍 Amar Gallery, 12-14 Whitfield Street, London W1T 2RF
🗓️ 29 May – 6 July 2025
🕚 Friday–Sunday, 11am–6pm
🔗 www.amargallery.com
📸 @TheAmarGallery | #StephenShames #BlackPantherExhibit #AmarGallery
