The family of photographer Leroy Cooper said they want his legacy to live on following his death.
Leroy, whose arrest triggered the 1981 Toxteth Riots, documented the city and the Liverpool 8 community in thousands of photographs. His work is exhibited at the Museum of Liverpool where his family paid tribute to him today.
His nephew Errol Smith and cousin poet Levi Tafari described Leroy as a pioneer for the L8 community and said they have been overwhelmed with support. It is understood he died on Friday aged 62.
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Errol said: "The support and condolences we have had means a lot. The response shows the scale of the man Leroy Cooper was. He had a massive impact on his immediate community and far wider as well.
"It is amazing to be here in the museum where his artwork is being displayed at the moment and it is nice, as a family, that we are able to honour his memory in such a way. One of the important things for the family is being allowed the opportunity to grieve for Leroy."
Leroy, was arrested on July 3, 1981, during a disturbance in Toxteth that followed another man being apprehended by the police for stealing a bicycle. His treatment by the police led to the disturbances which came to be known as the Toxteth Riots.
Levi said: "I grew up with Leroy and he was always creative and he took many journeys from becoming a punk rocker to Rastafarian. He took many journeys documenting the history and timeline of L8. He wrote poetry and appeared in many programmes and was a great inspiration to people in the Toxteth area."
Leroy returned to L8 after time spent on remand and in borstal - eventually signing up for a 12-week course with Open Eye gallery in 1984. In the years after his arrest, Leroy trained as a photographer and took more than 250,000 images, many of which helped to counter negative depictions of the area.
Errol said: "We also want to cement Leroy's legacy in the Liverpool area for a very long time. We want a permanent legacy for him. He has got artwork and hundreds of pieces of art, exhibitions, and installations that we would like to get cemented in and around Liverpool.
"He has offered so much to this city and sacrificed so much for it and for the people of this city. I think the people of this city would love to see his legacy live on."
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