Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey (American, b. 1953)

A straight portrait photographer, Bey was born David Edward Smikle in Queens, NY but changed his name in the early 1970s. After studying photography at Empire State College (BA, 1990) and Yale (MFA, 1993), his earliest project, Harlem, USA (1975-79) was a black-and-white series on the area’s African American residents. Since then, his subjects have included frontal portraits of teenagers and public figures, representing broad racial and economic demographics. Awarded over 20 artist residencies, an NEA Fellowship (1991), and a Guggenheim (2002), Bey teaches at Columbia College in Chicago, IL.

Important Source Material:

Coleman, A.D., Editor. Dawoud Bey: Portraits 1975-1995. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1995.

Bey, Dawoud, Matthew S Witkovsky, and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts. Dawoud Bey: Harlem, U.S.A. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2012.

NHS