Ajamu X

Dear Seb, I have gathered a few photos by my friend the photographer Ajamu X, that you probably won’t see in The Guardian.. Ajamu was born in 1963 in Huddersfield to Jamaican parents. His grandparents arrived to England in 1958 and his parents followed in 1962. Ajamu came out as gay to his parents in his late teens and describes their reaction as “impressively progressive for the times”. He studied Black History and photography in Leeds. While in Leeds, he and two friends created the magazine BLAC, an acronym for Black Liberation Activist Core. In October 1987, after seeing it advertised in the newspaper Caribbean Times, Ajamu attended the first, and only, National Black Gay Men’s Conference held at the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre in Camden. By January the following year, he had moved to London. He was given the name Ajamu in 1991; it means “he who fights for what he believes”. – Barefoot Shaman

“My name Ajamu X, a reference to Malcolm X who was my first key role model. Changing my name to an African one was very significant.” – Ajamu X

‘My Black queer body on a white chaise longue’ … Ajamu’s best photograph https://t.co/YgzTxO6mLO

— seb cox (@sebcox) July 26, 2023