Introduction

Dawoud Bey: This retrospective exhibition looks at examples of my work going back to the very first project, I guess you could say the exhibition is both about an evolution in the things that I’m interested in looking at, as well as being a kind of evolution of the way I think about making certain kinds—or different kinds—of photographs as a way of visualizing those ideas.

Narrator: Welcome to Dawoud Bey: An American Project. This exhibition presents works from the artist’s decades-long career, beginning in the mid-seventies up until 2017. Throughout the show, you’ll see images taken with a range of cameras, from small 35 millimeter cameras to a giant polaroid camera weighing hundreds of pounds. Using different formats and techniques has been one way that Dawoud Bey has sought to reveal the sometimes invisible exchange between the photographer and the photographed.