In 1974, Morris, then at school in London, heard that
Bob Marley was playing at the
Speakeasy Club in
Great Marlborough Street. He went to the club during the day, met Marley and asked to take his picture. Marley agreed, and after hearing that Morris wanted to be a photographer told him: "You are a photographer." The following day, Morris left with the band in their Transit van. He went on to photograph the musician until Marley's death in 1981. After being approached by
John Lydon personally, after their signing to
Virgin Records, in May 1977, Morris spent a year with the
Sex Pistols, documenting them in depth. In 1978, Morris went with Virgin boss
Richard Branson on a talent-spotting trip to Jamaica. Morris persuaded Virgin that
John Lydon should accompany them. Morris describes his style as "reportage", citing as influences
Robert Capa and
Don McCullin. He used a
Leica camera, finding that its small size meant that "you can take it anywhere, and no one takes it seriously. So you get them to open up." He then became art director of
Island Records and designed album covers for
Linton Kwesi Johnson,
Marianne Faithfull (
Broken English) and Bob Marley. In mid-1979, Morris replaced
Don Letts as vocalist of
Basement 5, a reggae punk fusion band. He created their logo, image, photography and graphics and gained a recording contract with Island Records. Their albums,
1965–1980 and
Basement in Dub, were produced by
Martin Hannett in 1980 and re-released by the PIAS label in 2017. In 2000, Morris travelled to the Philippines to photograph the crucifixion of artist
Sebastian Horsley. In 2002, to mark the 40th anniversary of Jamaican independence, Morris was commissioned by
BBC 2 to document reggae superstars, Jamaican street culture and the energy of the dancehall for the award-winning TV series and accompanying book
Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music. In June 2005, the
Spectrum London gallery had a show of photographs by Morris documenting the daily lives, ceremonies and rituals of the
Mowanjum Community of
Indigenous Australians. The gallery was blessed by tribe leader Francis Firebrace, wearing body paint and tribal dress. A large installation of his punk images (part of the
I am a cliché, Echoes of the Punk Aesthetic exhibition curated by Emma Lavigne) was shown at the 41st
Rencontres d'Arles (France) during the summer of 2010. In 2013, Morris collaborated with
Shepard Fairey on a body of work titled
S.I.D (Superman Is Dead), culminating in an exhibition at Subliminal Projects,
Los Angeles, USA. In April 2014, he exhibited a large collection of his Bob Marley photographs at the Known Gallery in Los Angeles. In early 2016,
BBC 4 made a documentary on his work as part of their ongoing series
What do artists do all day?. In 2016, the
Institute of Contemporary Arts presented an exhibition of his design, marketing, art direction and photography of Public Image Ltd. In 2018, Nowness made a short film of Dennis Morris in
Tokyo for their "Photographers in Focus" series. In 2023, Morris exhibited a series of work titled
Colored Black at Kyotographie International Photography Festival in Japan. Morris's work has been used in books such as
Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century by
Greil Marcus,
Century by
Bruce Bernard,
Punk by Steven Colgrave and Chris Sullivan, and
Rolling Stone: The Complete Covers 1967–1997. Morris has been the subject of documentaries and television programmes in the UK and US. ==Collections==