Dawoud Bey, An American Project

Whitney Museum of American Art, April 17—October 3, 2021

Undoubtedly one of the foremost photographers of our era, Dawoud Bey has established himself as a great editor of the subject-author relationship in art. Rejecting the transactional association photographers normally have with those they represent, Bey uses the camera to provide Black individuals with opportunities to assert their place in the great American narrative. His first major career retrospective, An American Project—on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art until October 3rd—celebrates his dedication to equitable and authentic representation in visual culture.

Dawoud Bey, A Young Man Resting on a Exercise Bike, Amityville NY, 1988

The exhibition is arranged chronologically, and begins with Bey’s series Harlem, U.S.A., created between 1975 and 1979. While this was his first series, it reflects his career-long preoccupation with portraying his subjects in a way that conveys the nuances and complexities of their lives. Though some of the subjects' gazes are diverted, the viewer gets the sense that they are still very aware of the photographer’s presence. In these works, like “A Woman Waiting in the Doorway” (1976) and “Three Women at a Parade” (1978), the subjects appear fully engaged in their daily lives, while ever so subtly posing. The subjects’ awareness that they are being photographed is also shown through Bey’s use of a wide-angle lens, which requires a very close physical proximity to the subject. This allows him to spotlight the individuals in each photograph, while at the same time including important details from the surrounding environment.

Bey’s use of a wide-angle lens in his early work is important in that it allowed him to create subject-oriented portraiture while refusing to exclude the surrounding visual environment, as the practice often does. For example, in “A Boy in Front of the Loews 125th Street Movie Theater” (1976), we are captivated by the boy’s fashionable outfit and his cool gaze, while at the same time are intrigued by the surrounding theater with its dazzling lights and mosaic construction. In this photograph, especially, the subject’s presence is augmented by his surroundings, as the lines made by the lights all point towards him, echoing a similar use of angles in da Vinci’s Last Supper. Here, the reciprocal relationship between subject and setting is highlighted, emphasizing the way individuals both shape and are shaped by their community. In Bey’s aptly named series, Harlem itself thus becomes the main subject of the work, celebrating the vibrancy and humanity of an often-misunderstood place. We get the sense that these people are Harlem, and Harlem is these people.

In the 1980s, Bey bade farewell to his 35mm camera and began using a tripod-mounted, large-format camera with Polaroid Type 55 film. His choice of equipment is in no way incidental to the work, as it marked a very important step in establishing a more equitable relationship between subject and photographer, which became the hallmark of his career. Calling the Polaroid Type 55 photographs “Street Portraits” likely seemed like a misnomer at the time, as street photography had long assumed a certain invisibility of the photographer. But using such a large, conspicuous camera on the street, portrait-taking became a much more formal and involved act, and the resulting images reflect a heightened degree of participation and collaboration on behalf of the subject. Their gazes appear carefully yet authentically adopted; and everyone seems to be comfortable, at ease in their own way in front of Bey’s domineering lens.

Dawoud Bey, Untitled #20 (Farmhouse and Picket Fence I), 2017

By this stage, Bey’s portraiture begins to assume its quintessential form, in which each subject looks directly into the lens. Portrait photography for Bey is no transactional act, and here we can discern his dedication to establishing a more equitable relationship between subject and artist. Observing these photographs, a great amount of authenticity is conveyed; the affect of each subject reveals a sincerity and uniqueness of character. Bey’s subjects pose confidently and affirmatively, and through their strong gazes assume an air of ownership over each photograph, as if they, along with Bey, are co-authors of the work. Bey furthered this idea by using Polaroid Type 55 film, with which he was able to provide each of his subjects with a copy of their photograph on the spot. And over the years, Bey continued to show a deeper interest in the lives of his subjects, publishing the series Class Pictures (2001-2006), in which each portrait of a high school student is accompanied by a short text written by them. In all of Bey’s portraiture, the photographs are self-contained assertions of the subject’s identity and nuance of character. The work does not just make use of the subject, each one seems to be that subject.

Dawoud Bey, Girls, ornaments, and vacant lot, 2016

As a young photographer in the latter decades of the twentieth century, Bey was highly aware of the historical inequities in representation and art. He once described photography as traditionally working like a passport—a form of anthropology, almost, where artists seek out subject material that describes lived realities far from their own, and show their work to similar groups of people. But Bey wanted to radically shift this narrative of othering and place the ownership of artwork in the hands of those it represents, and he achieves this leveling both conceptually and aesthetically. In creating intentional and lengthy portraits, Bey’s subjects are involved to the extent that they become authors, creators of these visual statements of identity and community. After Bey, when we think of the great American project, we recognize the importance of each individual in historically marginalized places, from Harlem to Birmingham, and celebrate the richness and complexity of the lives they live.

May 11 Exhibition Review Dawoud Bey, An American Project

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