Dennis Morris

Dennis Morris is a British photographer best known for his images of Bob Marley and The Sex Pistols. His previous books include Growing Up Black (Autograph ABP, 2012), This is the One. A Photo Essay on the Rise of the Stone Roses (WSI, 2012), The Bollocks. A Photo Essay of the Sex Pistols (Zero + Publishing, 2015), and Bob Marley. Portrait of the King (Tang Deng Co., 2024).

At Chelsea Arts Festival, Dennis Morris will join us for Blue Plaques Talk Back Live – to discuss the cultural legacy of Bob Marley, who once called Chelsea home. 

His latest book, Music + Life (Thames & Hudson, 2025), is a definitive retrospective, bringing together a rich collection of his celebrated work. From his early documentary projects delving into race and identity in 1970s Britain, to his iconic portraits of music legends, the book also includes previously unpublished images that inject new vibrancy into Morris’s already remarkable visual narrative.

Jamaican-born Dennis Morris arrived in England aged five and at nine he joined the camera club at his local church in Dalston, sparking his lifelong passion for photography. He was just 11 years old when one of his photographs of a London demonstration appeared on the front page of the Daily Mirror. In his early teens, Morris skipped school to wait for Bob Marley to arrive for a soundcheck at London’s Speakeasy Club; Marley then invited the young photographer to join him for the rest of the tour to take pictures, starting a lifelong friendship. Morris went on to become the official photographer for the Sex Pistols, and his adventures in 1970s reggae and punk laid the foundations for a decades-long career in photography, art direction, design and music.