Curtis Stephen
6 min readMar 16, 2020

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Wall from a 2012 exhibit of Alix Dejean’s work in Brooklyn, New York. On the left, musicians Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley share a laugh. And (right) the Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. | Photo: Curtis Stephen
Portrait photo of Alix Dejean (Circa early 1980s) | Photo courtesy of the Dejean family.

And yet it’s just one of thousands upon thousands of photographs — most of which have never before been published — that Dejean took during a dynamic career that spanned some 50 years.

Standing with Alix Dejean at his 2012 photo exhibit. | Photo: Nancy Grove
A photo that Michael Jackson took of his siblings with Alix Dejean. From left to right: Tito Jackson, Dejean, Randy Jackson and Marlon Jackson in New York City. | Photo courtesy of the Dejean family.

“When I first met them, I didn’t know what they did,” Dejean once reflected. “But I photographed them as real people, complex people.”

In 2015, Dejean released a book of exclusive photos of the Jackson family.

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Curtis Stephen

A NY-based journalist, Stephen is currently writing a biography on the legendary radio DJ Frankie Crocker, CHIEF ROCKER. His Twitter handle is @curtisstephen23.