Kltyus Smith

Obituary For Kltyus Smith

Klytus Augusta Smith peacefully left our world on July 27, 2024, at the age of 83, in his Queens home. Born in the Bronx and having come of age in Harlem, Klytus was a gifted artist of photography. Skillfully and with great dedication to his craft and subjects, he had captured among many things, the vibrancy of Harlem life, documented in his 1995 book The Harlem Cultural/Political Movements 1960–1970 (from Malcom X to Black is Beautiful). A member of AJASS (The African Jazz-Arts Society and Studio), Klytus surrounded himself with a collective of creatives whose aim was to declare and promote the reality of Black is Beautiful.

As a photojournalist, his works proved to be a great resource in the set design of Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X and in several publications, including most recently by the New York City Department of Education’s (working title) Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora and within Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

In addition to his love of community, family, rich conversation, The African Diaspora, and mentorship, he was a highly skilled marksman with a great collection of rifle arms. He frequented the ranges of Long Island and upstate New York.

Klytus joins his parents, Bessie and Charles Eugene Smith, his twin brother Klyfus, and his younger sister Sharloo. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Suzanne, daughter Nzingtha, and son Nakulwa. While Klytus may be gone physically from this earth, his memory lives on through but is not limited to his work, his friends, colleagues, mentees, and his beautiful family full of nieces, grandnieces, and nephews, while serving as a guiding star to us all.

To celebrate Klytus’s remarkable life, we gather on August 16, 2024, at Grace United Methodist Church in Harlem.