American, b. 1953
Dawoud Bey, born in New York City in 1953, began his career as a photographer in 1975 with a series of photographs, Harlem, USA, that were later exhibited in his first one-person exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979.
Bey’s recent work includes Birmingham: Four Girls and Two Boys, a project that features photographic pairings that freshly frame the tragic events surrounding the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The project presents portraits of citizens of contemporary Birmingham; it offers children the same ages as those who died, coupled with adults who are the ages the children would have reached had they lived.
Bey is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University. He is currently Distinguished College Artist and Professor of Art at Columbia College Chicago, where he has taught since 1998.
Bey’s recent work includes Birmingham: Four Girls and Two Boys, a project that features photographic pairings that freshly frame the tragic events surrounding the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The project presents portraits of citizens of contemporary Birmingham; it offers children the same ages as those who died, coupled with adults who are the ages the children would have reached had they lived.
Bey is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University. He is currently Distinguished College Artist and Professor of Art at Columbia College Chicago, where he has taught since 1998.
