Legendary Los Angeles based photographer, Leroy Hamilton is back with a new photo exhibit. “The Story of Us” documents prominent Black politicians, athletes, and entertainers. The photo exhibition is in honor of African American Heritage Month, the City of Los Angeles’ node to Black History Month. The exhibit focuses on African Americans and Labor. The exhibit is free to the public and open Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and is located on the Henry P. Rio Bridge Gallery, CIty Hall, 3rd floor at 200 N. Spring St. Los Angeles, Calif.
Two of Hamilton’s colleagues inspired him to start the exhibit as they constantly pushed him, California State Senator of the 28th District Lola Smallwood-Cuevas and Mary Lee, who he has worked with in the past. Hamilton has an array of experience with photographing various campaigns and projects for politicians such as Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, and Supervisor Holly J. Mitchelle, Assemblymember of the 55th District, Isaac Bryan, the #BringBackOurGirls protest, the Treyvon Martin protests and more. He has also worked with a multitude of celebrities such as Magic Johnson, Stevie Wonder, and Gabourey Sidibey.
“I started working on this in 2023. I had two people who were very intentional about me doing this. I went through my archive and put together stories that represented ‘us’, as Black people in Los Angeles.”
After his mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in Jan.2024, work for the exhibit was placed on hold as his mother lost the battle, transitioning on in April 2024.
“I really wanted it to reflect the full breath of what I’ve done.” He continued “Everybody will take away something different. Some people like celebrities, some people like politics… I have community work there too such as the protest work I’ve done. There’s diverse work on the walls.”
“It was super symbolic to me that my work would be featured on the bridge of City Hall. In 2025, we have a Black Mayor, a Black City Council President. And everybody is saying that ‘Black’ is outta style.” He added, “ It really has a lot of deep meaning for me. I wanted this exhibit to be Blackity Black. I want people to walk the bridge and see all of our Black excellence.
An acclaimed Los Angeles photographer who has photographed the likes of Kobe Bryant, Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston. He attributes City Council Member President Marqueece Harris as being a helping hand in launching the exhibit.
“I have pictures up there of everyone from Ceilia Cruz, Johnny Cochran, and Kobe Bryant. I have a community there too. There’s a wide variety of images of people even like Ray Charles and Michael Jackson. It shows that we have excelled way before DEI. If they can do it, we can do it.
“For every city worker who comes into work as they walk across that bridge every morning. I want them to feel ‘Blackity Black because Black folks are under attack, from every direction. I just want that to be the takeaway from this exhibit.
Hamilton says that he has garnered great feedback from the exhibit and that Angelenos feel the presence of Black excellence, especially during the volatile political climate that is currently underway in the country through the Trump administration. Hamilton is currently working on his next exhibit which will be unveiled on Juneteenth at Leimert Park in the Crenshaw neighborhood, an extension of “The Story of Us”. A name and theme has not been released.