Contemporary Photographer: Dawoud Bey

Biography

Birthdate: 1953 in New York City’s Jamaica, Queens

Current Residency: Chicago, Illinois

Education: B.F.A. in Photography from Empire State College, M.F.A. from Yale University School of Art

Creation: Unknown

Significance

Dawoud Bey’s “Class Pictures” is a significant series because it reveals the inner workings of teenagers. One can decide what happens in one’s life during teenage years. Teenage life can be hectic, scary, unsettling and any emotion imaginable.  Bey wanted to convey the complexity of a high school teenager, which is something almost all people go through. Each student was asked to reveal something about themselves for the photo. The texts and photos juxtaposed create quite the expressions.

Composition

All of Bey’s photos from this particular series tend to have similar framing, lighting, contrast and balance. Bey didn’t want to make drastic changes from one photo to the next. He wanted to keep certain aspects consistent. However, the posing of the subjects is what differs the most between the photos. The different poses help identify the student’s personalities.

Concept

The concept is quite simple: Bey took portraits of high school teenagers paired with self-written statements by each student.  However, it is very complex. Bey wanted to reveal something unknown to others about each subject. But how much can a portrait actually reveal?

Method

There weren’t any special techniques or processes employed for this series.

Goal

This is simple: to showcase the inner complex workings of a teenager’s world.

Opinion

I’m not one to write smart articulate coherent opinions about ones work. In fact, I don’t care to write my thoughts about ones work at all. So, when I do, I keep my statements simple and to the point.

Bey’s work in this series is magnificent. He has taken a range of teenagers and captured them in their simplest form. One can look at the photos and see the range of personalities and life styles present.  However, since each subject was asked to write a statement about themselves it suddenly becomes complex and personal. One may feel suddenly close to them, even though one has never met them. One is transported into their world and once you step out of their world you compare it to yours. One realizes how different one’s life can be at such an important age. But in the end, how much can a photo reveal about one’s self?

For this series and all of his work please visit his web page at:

http://work.colum.edu/~jkeats/bey/