In this video excerpt of Dawoud Bey’s discussion with Carrie Mae Weems last February 2008 when Class Pictures was on view at Aperture Gallery, Bey explains how his subjects reacted to the project and what it meant to them, from the making of the portrait to seeing it framed in a museum or published in the accompanying book. He explains that part of his project is to give portrait subjects a chance to simultaneously pose for a photographer and also represent themselves in a written statement. Dawoud furthers that part of his goal is to draw communities, who may not necessarily go to their local museums, into the institution. Many of Dawoud’s subjects found the experience to be surreal and transformative in their own lives.

The exhibition Class Pictures is currently on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum and as part of the opening reception on Thursday, April 23, Dawoud Bey will give a talk and book signing. The exhibition and its coinciding monograph, Class Pictures (Aperture, 2007), feature Bey’s striking large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States. For the past fifteen years, Bey has been photographing teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum, and—intensely attentive to their poses and gestures—has created a highly diverse generational portrait that challenges stereotypes of teenagers. A brief autobiographical statement by the subject—by turns poignant, funny, or harrowing—accompanies each portrait.

Click here to watch an extended version of the talk.

Click here to view related events.

Thursday, April 16th, Dawoud Bey’s successful traveling exhibition Class Pictures opens at the Milwaukee Art Museum after making several stops in New York, Houston, Indianapolis, and Baltimore.

The exhibition and accompanying book feature striking, large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum. In this video excerpt of a talk with Carrie Mae Weems from February 2008, when the exhibition was on view at Aperture Gallery, Dawoud Bey explains how the portraits in Class Pictures result from a close collaboration with his subjects. His directions were made to highlight the gestures, looks and how the teenagers were posing within the classroom. Bey also speaks about the relevance of the subjects’ written testimonies and how they complete and deepen the portraits.

Dawoud Bey will give a talk and book signing at the museum during the opening reception on Thursday, April 23rd and on Tuesday, April 28 in a discussion with curator Lisa Hostetler.

Click here to watch an extended version of the talk.

Dawoud Bey’s Interest in Photography and Portraiture from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

In February 2008, Dawoud Bey and Carrie Mae Weems discussed the work from Bey’s acclaimed book and exhibition, Class Pictures, on view at the time at Aperture Gallery.

Class Pictures features Bey’s striking, large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States. Depicting teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum—and intensely attentive to their poses and gestures—he has created a highly diverse group portrait of a generation that challenges teenage stereotypes.  After several stops including New York, Houston, Indianapolis, and Baltimore, this successful exhibition will open at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, April 16, 2009.

In this excerpt from the talk, Dawoud Bey explains how he decided to become a photographer, speaks about his first significant picture as well as his approach to portraiture through his Harlem series.

Watch a longer cut of the talk here.

Now on view at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, is the Aperture exhibition Class Pictures, photographs by Dawoud Bey which depicts high-school teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum. Through intense attention to their poses and gestures—Bey created a highly diverse group portrait of a generation that intentionally challenges teenage stereotypes. The collection consists of forty 40 x 30 inch color prints from various high-schools throughout the country along with statements from each of the subjects. These striking, large-scale works offer unusually respectful and perceptive portraits that establish Bey as one of the best portraitists at work today.

Coinciding with the Aperture exhibition at the Contemporary Museum another portrait show that explores themes of race, class and identity over the centuries will be on view at the Walters Art Museum, co-curated by Dawoud Bey and 12 high school students. The exhibition is the result of a three-week summer residency, during which Bey and the teens selected historic drawings, paintings, and portrait miniatures from the Walters’ private collection to position alongside 10 similarly evocative portraits by Bey. Read more details on the collaborative curatorial project titled  The Portrait Re/Examined: A Dawoud Bey Project on Whats Going On? Dawoud’s Blog.

Read The Baltimore Sun article here:  A portrait of Students as young Walters curators

Check out another great post from Dawoud titled Advice To A Young Artist.

Dawoud and Carrie Mae Weems will be speaking  on Martin Luther King Day, January 19, 3:00 p.m. the day before the presidential inauguration at the Walters Museum.

Dawoud Bey: Class Pictures
December 13-February 21, 2009
Contemporary Museum
100 W. Centre Street, Mount Vernon
410-783-5720

Portraits Re/ Examined:
A Dawoud Bey Project
December 13-February 16, 2009
Walters Art Museum
600 N. Charles St., Mount Vernon
410-547-9000

View and buy the Aperture book here for 30% off.

Buy book signed by Dawoud Bey!

Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey

Talk and Book Signing: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 5:00 PM

Exhibition on view: June 15, 2008-September 7, 2008

Weatherspoon Art Museum
University of North Carolina
Spring Garden Street at Tate Street
Greensboro, North Carolina

Dawoud Bey will be in North Carolina on Thursday for a talk and book signing. This event coincides with an exhibition on view at the Weatherspoon Art Museum. The companion book, Class Pictures, was published by Aperture in 2007.

Class Pictures is the culmination of fifteen years Bey spent creating large-scale color portraits of high-school students across the United States. Like the book, the exhibition will include personal statements from the students in the images.

Bey, who earned his MFA from Yale University School of Art, is currently a professor of photography at Columbia College Chicago. This exhibition presents a unique opportunity for the students of the University of North Carolina, along with the general public, to learn directly from Bey about his critically-acclaimed project.