DAWOUD BEY at the Whitney Museum

The Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are planning the first full-scale retrospective of Dawoud Bey’s career. A 2017 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Bey is recognized as one of the most innovative and influential photographers of his generation.  Beginning with his earliest body of work, Harlem, USA, which was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979, Bey has worked primarily in portraiture, making tender and direct portrayals of black teenagers; bringing together neighbors whose paths might not otherwise have crossed; and rendering African-American history in a form at once lyrical and immediate. Since the beginning of his career, Bey has used his camera to represent communities and histories that have largely remained underrepresented or even unseen. He sees making art as not just a kind of personal expression but as an act of social and political responsibility, emphasizing the necessary work of artists and art institutions to break down obstacles to access, convene communities, and open dialogue.