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Dawoud Bey Biography

Photographer

Dawoud Bey is an American photographer known for his profound exploration of race, identity, and history. His work often focuses on the African American community in the United States, capturing the changes in American society through photography.

People Subjects Staring Viewers Glances Casual

Author:Dawoud Bey

“Black people have been killed for directing their gaze at the wrong person. I want my subjects to reclaim their right to look, to see, to be seen.”

People Want Looks Persons Has Beens Black Subjects Black People Wrong Person

Book:Dawoud Bey: portraits 1975-1995

Source: Dawoud Bey: portraits 1975-1995

“I always wanted my photographs to challenge the status quo, to contest the kinds of images that existed in popular culture.”

Kind Wanted Culture Challenges Photograph Contests Status Quo Popular Culture

Author:Dawoud Bey

“Improvisational things about picture-making... learned from working with the small camera early on have served me well in being able to think quickly when making [portraits].”

Thinking Wells Able Cameras Portraits

Author:Dawoud Bey

“While I have devised various formal strategies for articulating [my] concerns, I think fundamentally the work is driven by a basic curiosity. I seek to find out things about people by making photographs of them.”

People Thinking Concern Strategy Curiosity Photograph Various Driven Formal Articulating

Author:Dawoud Bey

“If done well, I believe the photographic representation of the human subject has the potential to be more revealing than what is revealed by the eye alone, since the human glance is usually a momentary one.”

Ifs Believe Humans Wells Done Eye I Believe Subjects Representation Glances Revealing Momentary

Author:Dawoud Bey

“Sara Blair's Harlem Crossroads is an important addition to the body of literature that currently exists about Harlem. It brilliantly illuminates the complex relationship between photographic representation and race, and adds new insight into the ways in which this one black community has figured in both the critical and public imaginations. Harlem Crossroads is a tour de force.”

Way Important Body Literature Force Black Community Imagination Race Add Complexes Insight Critical Representation Crossroads Blair Harlem Black Community Complex Relationships

Author:Dawoud Bey

About the Author

Born: 1953
Known for: Photographer
Quotes: 7

Books & Sources

Dawoud Bey: portraits 1975-1995Related source material

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