Photographer Dennis Morris has been documenting cutting-edge artists in the music industry for 40 years. He visited Tokyo for an exhibition at Barneys New York Shinjuku, which runs until July 28th.

Dennis shares his memories of the late Bob Marley, the man who inspired him to embark on this career, and the Sex Pistols, the "darlings of the era."

"Growing up, I didn't particularly aspire to a career in music. That is, until I met Bob Marley. He awakened me to the idea that documenting the times through music was worth dedicating my life to."

1973, London. At the entrance to the Speakeasy club in the city's West End, 14-year-old Morris, camera in hand, waited impatiently for the star to appear. That same year, Bob Marley & the Wailers signed with Island Records and released their major label debut, "Catch a Fire." Up until then, the label had been entirely focused on rock, but decided to focus on Jamaican reggae as the "next rebel music," and Marley's first UK tour kicked off in London. This was Marley's first step into the world, as he would reign over the music world a few years later as the "God of Reggae."

When Bob Marley eventually appeared at a club, Morris immediately asked, "Can I take your picture?" Marley replied with surprising ease, "Of course! Come on in." Morris engrossedly captured Bob Marley's rehearsals and performances on camera. After seeing the photos, Marley immediately invited him to continue to tour with him. "It wasn't like I was the official photographer for the tour. I was more like their 'mascot' (laughs). Marley sensed my single-minded passion for photography and understood that I was pursuing something different from other people. Perhaps he saw a bit of himself as a boy in me. "Not many people know this, but Marley's father is white. In fact, he was half white and half black, so he wasn't welcome in Kingston (the capital of Jamaica), which had a deep black community. Conversely, he was able to understand the feelings of both black and white people. If you listen carefully to his songs, you'll see that they are never songs that defend or speak for black people. At the same time, they are not songs for white people. He always addresses the "people" - that is, all "people" that transcend race. As a boy, he too struggled between the two races and tried to find a different approach to life than other people. I think that's where he saw a commonality between us." Morris was born and raised in Hackney, a working-class and immigrant neighborhood in northeast London. He attended church as a choirboy from a young age and eventually joined the photography club established within his church. "The process of developing film and printing a photograph seemed like magic to me as a child."

For someone who had been wandering the streets with a camera in hand and taking snapshots since he was less than 10 years old, aspiring to become a photographer seemed natural. But at the same time, it was an unattainable dream. Whenever he talked to his parents about his future, they always dismissed him, saying, "That's a stupid idea." That was because he was black.

(Continued in Vol. 2)

From the Editorial Department
Tatsuya Mizuno, who produced the Japanese version of Dennis Morris's photo book "Destroy - Sex Pistols 1977," published in 1999, is the same age as Dennis Morris and shared his photographic history. This time, Fashion Headline has planned a reunion between the two for the first time in over a decade. Fashion Headline editor-in-chief Noda is the same age as him, so they are all experts on the culture of the 1970s. We will be presenting an exclusive interview over three parts.