As Martha Charoudi, curator at the Philadel-
phia Museum of Art has noted:
The subjects of Uzzle’s photographs range from joggers
in Central Park, New York, to a family dressed in Mickey
Mouse sweatshirts shopping in a department store in
Daytona Beach, Florida, to students recreating a Civil
War battle in Annapolis, Maryland. For many years he
has photographed the Mummer’s Parade on New Year’s
Day in Philadelphia and the Daytona Beach Motorcycle
week. He interprets these annual events not only as
public displays of audacious behavior and appearance,
but as a kind of unrecognized folk art. The Mummer’s
with their elaborate costumes and make up and the
bikers with their equally elaborate tattoos and custom-
made motorcycles both perform in skilled rituals of
freedom. Uzzle’s photographs celebrate the amusing
quirkiness and exaggerated eccentricities of American
life; but like all great works of art, they grapple with the
paradoxes of the human situation.Born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1938, Uzzle in
his early teen years taught himself photography
while attending high school. His first job in photo-
graphy was as a staff photographer for the Raleigh
News and Observerfrom 1955–1956 at age 17. From
1957 until 1962, he was a contract photographer in
Atlanta, Houston, and Chicago for the Black Star
Agency of New York. In 1962 through 1968, Uzzle
becameLifemagazine’s youngest contract photogra-
pher, in Chicago and New York. Enjoying the free-
dom that came with these contract relationships,
Uzzle developed his preference for wandering freely
and ‘‘blowing in the wind,’’ traveling across the
United States at will. When a subject caught his
interest, however, he stopped, became very involved
with the subject and photographed tenaciously,
sometimes for days and weeks, as he did with
Wyoming sheep ranchers. It is during this period
that Uzzle developed his aversion to photographing
celebrities (because they are not ‘‘real’’), even though
he did complete a well-known photograph ofPlay-
boymagazine founder Hugh Hefner.
Beginning in 1967, Uzzle spent 15 years as a full
member of Magnum Photos, a photography collec-
tive and cooperative, with offices in New York and
Paris. During this period, he served two terms as
Magnum president in New York. Uzzle described
this job as ‘‘wild and wacky, keeping members
happy, striving to provide a measure of equilibrium
and leadership’’ (author interview). To Uzzle this
service was an extreme honor and was a great plea-
sure. In 1970, Uzzle received the Page One Award
from the Newspaper Guild of New York and in
1975, the National Endowment for the Arts Photo-
graphy Fellowship. He also photographed theNews-
weekcover documenting the assassination of civil
rights leader Martin Luther King. After his involve-
ment with Magnum, Uzzle remained in New York,
and worked independently from 1984 until 1997.
Magnum published Uzzle’s first book in 1973,
titledLandscapes. Two other books were produced
by other publishers: one in 1984 namedAll Amer-
ican (often used as a catch-phrase to describe
Uzzle’s life), andProgress Report on Civilization,
published by The Chrysler Museum in 1992. These
books demonstrate the eclectic bent of his photo-
graphy, where reality is often depicted through
bizarre juxtapositions of common items.
As an avid motorcyclist, Uzzle has participated in
and photographed Florida’s Daytona Bike Week, a
large motorcycle rally, for over 25 years. A large
group of his photographs were recorded during
this annual event, portraying the people and ma-
chines they have ‘‘decorated’’ to express themselves.
Uzzle’s urge is to capture this uniqueness and aid in
expressing his subjects’ individuality, and more spe-
cifically, their ‘‘Americanness,’’ through his photo-
graphs. One technique he uses is to position his
subjects in relation to the ordinary (a wall, a tree,
etc.), which further emphasizes their unusual
appearance. His ability to capture this subculture is
assisted by his own interest in motorcycling, which
includes competing in various enduro (long dirt-bike
races) at Bike Week and across the country.
Uzzle has traveled throughout Europe and
Southeast Asia (where he photographed the surren-
der of the Khmer Rouge), parts of South America
and Africa, and has said: ‘‘America is the most
exotic country in the world. It is also the loneliest.’’
These trips caused Uzzle to better define and con-
centrate on the unique American experience, usual-
ly from his quirky and idiosyncratic Southern
perspective. Uzzle’s portraits do not attempt to
document where people came from or cultural
activities unique to their country of origin. To
Uzzle, they are only American—an ‘‘American-
ism,’’ which obscures their specific origins. Many
of his photographs focus on individuals looking
vulnerable while in large crowds. These individuals
appear disconnected, self absorbed, and isolated.
Yet Uzzle rejoices when he observes people break-
ing free from routine and openly seeking their own
paths and expressing what makes them different. In
these photographs his subjects are often framed
with icons like the American flag.
Uzzle’s many major solo exhibitions have in-
cluded two shows at the International Center of
Photography, New York, the Philadelphia Mu-
seum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Gallerie
Agathe Gaillard in Paris, the opening exhibition at
the Witkin Gallery in New York, and The ChryslerUZZLE, BURT