Soul Rebel

Bob Marley on Camera

Jan. 11, 2010

midnight

When photojournalist David Burnett went to Jamaica for Time magazine in 1976, reggae was arumor at best for most Americans. But with ears and eyes open, Burnettencountered a figure poised to become a global star. More than anyone else, BobMarley would transform reggae, then a local music confined to Jamaica and expatriate ghettos, into thesoundtrack for Third World liberation and arare touchstone of moral vision and integrity in pop culture. In many countries,Marley remains more important than Elvis, the Beatles or U2.

Burnett took dozens of previously unseen photographs,published in the splendid Soul Rebel: AnIntimate Portrait of Bob Marley (Insight Editions), in ‘76 and one yearlater on Marley’s European tour behind his breakthrough album, Exodus. Unlike too many photo booksnowadays, which seem indifferently assembled from snapshots, Soul Rebel is the work of anaccomplished visual artist, a portraitist with a gift for capturing the innerlife of his subjects. And like the ideal journalist, Burnett was willing tohear out the subject rather than impose his own preconceptions.

Alongside the beauty of the photographs,Burnett’sreflections on his time with Marley testifies to the singer’s importance as athoughtful visionary, molded by difficult circumstances, and to a bygone erawhen journalism involved a slow process of gaining knowledge, not a few clickson Google and a six-minute interview.

Burnett will sign copies of Soul Rebel and prints of photographs from the book at VP Gallery, 320 E. Buffalo St.,6-10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16. Prints ofBurnett’s photos will be on display.